What the Heart Can See
by mystery
Summary: Piccolo rescues a blind girl when she somehow winds up in the valley where he lives. What will happen when she touches his face and discovers he isn't human?
1. Man of the Stars

Man Of The Stars ****

Man Of The Stars

The bus was late, as usual. I hated sitting there waiting with the roaring cars passing by. I hated that noise, and I hated the smell of the exhaust that hung in the air as well. But there I was, stuck in the middle of it.

I've been told by a few people I know that I'm a cute girl. I wouldn't know. I don't know what I look like. Did I mention that I'm blind? I suppose I forgot, but now you know.

Oh yeah, my name is Leandra Jefferson, but you can call me Lee.

Anyway, I felt my Braille watch for the time. Crap, the bus was ten minutes late, and my mom was going to have a fit if I showed up any later then five-thirty. And it was three o' clock now. I was planning on getting home early, but thanks to the damn bus, that wouldn't be so.  
  
I finally heard the hiss as the bus put it's breaks on and the door hissed open. I tapped my cane against the steps and found the coin deposit to deposit my change. Then I found myself a seat and sat down as the bus lurched into motion again with a loud metallic creak. The bus was empty, or at least I think it was. I couldn't hear anybody else talking. Just the engine of the bus and the occasional hiss from the breaks as well as the horns and rattles of passing cars.

"Miss, we're at the last stop." The bus driver told me after a monotonous series of stops, turns and starts. He had a high pitched voice for a man. He probably wasn't much older then twenty, but I couldn't be sure.

Anyway, I thanked him and climbed off the bus, feeling the breeze as the bus drove past me, it's deafening engine fading into the distance. The first thing I became aware of was that it was silent. There were no city sounds, no car horns, no people cursing other people and no gas station bells. Just the calm swoosh of the wind as it brushed some of my hair into my face.

"Oh great! I got on the wrong bus!" I cried into the silence. "My mom's gonna kill me."

__

Well, I thought to myself, _might as well find my way back into the city_. And don't ask how, but I had the strangest feeling that someone was watching me. Of course I can't see to tell you that, but I do feel it if someone stares at me. 

I turned, realizing that I was disoriented, and started to walk towards the direction I thought the city was. However, the silence around me told me that I was going the wrong way. It was really starting to get late now and I was getting scared. I didn't know what to do. My cane tapped against a large rock, so I sat down against it and sighed, tired and hungry. The rock felt hot from being in the sun all day, but not too hot to touch, thankfully, or I'd have burned my bum. I folded my cane and held it in my lap while I relaxed, and by accident, fell asleep.

Distant howling jarred me awake, and I twisted my head around to listen to my surroundings. My heart was squeezing in on itself and felt like it was about to leap out of my chest. I was gasping and felt like I couldn't get enough air. And I was cold; shorts and a tank top aren't the hottest fashion in cold weather. It was most definitely night time. But I could smell something. Something distinct.

I could smell water nearby, and since I was thirsty, I got up and started heading that direction. With only my cane and my nose to guide me, I became aware of the roaring hiss of a waterfall. There was definitely water here. It didn't take me long to come to the river where the waterfall was, and I happily plunged my hands into the cool water and drank.

Again, I got that feeling that I was being watched. I strained my ears as hard as I could to hear anything but the silence and the water, but there was nothing else to hear. Shrugging, I finished drinking and stood up while reaching for my cane. The rock under my foot slipped free when I moved, and that made me twist my ankle and fall. Not onto the ground or into the mud. Nope. I fell into the roaring river, and only then did I realize that I was on top of the waterfall, not below it.

The current swept me right along. I grabbed onto a branch and tried to pull myself to safety, but I couldn't move the ankle I twisted at all, and realized that I'd probably broken it. And then the branch that I had ahold of broke. Down the river at breakneck speed I went. Water went up my nose, and I felt like I was on a log ride gone bad. I was getting all cut up from rocks and stuff that I scraped against, and then I hit my head on a boulder. Ouch. I felt dizzy, and the last thing I remembered before totally passing out was something grabbing my arm.

My head hurt. My arms and legs hurt. Even my hair hurt. I felt like I'd been put through a boot camp and then sent back for failing the first time. Then I became aware of the crackling sound and warmth of a campfire. I also realized that I was wrapped in something made of cloth. There were leaves all over my arms, on my cuts. Something on or in them made the wounds sting, and I wrinkled my nose.

"Oww..." I moaned as I moved to sit up.

"Don't move." Said a gruff and deep but intimidating sounding man's voice. Whoever had spoken was shockingly close, and within a second I heard someone sit down next to me. I felt a hand grasp my leg just above my injured ankle and tensed. "Tell me if this hurts." The voice said to me. The hand moved down to my ankle, squeezing just slightly.

"AARGH! Ouch!" I gave him a clear yes and he released my ankle.

"It's probably broken." The person said and gave a slight huff as he muttered something else under his breath. "Just stay there. I'll go get something to splint that stupid thing." I heard the person stand up again, his feet scraping the dirt slightly and followed by a small whooshing sound.

"Hey!" I called, but he was already gone. "Oh great." I muttered and laid back again. 

About ten minutes later, the man came back. I didn't hear him arrive, but I heard him putting down what sounded like sticks or pieces of wood. I also heard him breaking the wood up and tossing pieces aside. Then the man's hand returned to my injured ankle. He picked my foot up by the heel and tugged my shoe off, then set my foot down again. I bit my lip at the pain, but he worked fast so it didn't hurt for too long. I could hear him tugging the shoelaces out of the shoe he just took off of my foot, and a moment later he tugged the shoelaces out of my other shoe as well.

"OK I'm going to put the splint on. This could hurt." The mysterious stranger said. He put my injured ankle against his leg, which had a piece of the wood he was breaking up a minute ago sitting over it, then put two more pieces up against either side of my ankle. Then he used my own shoelaces to tie them into place. He tied them down tight, and I grimaced silently. But he did a good job with the splint. I could wiggle my toes, but not move my foot or my ankle. Perfectly immobile. "Let me know if your toes go numb and I'll loosen it."

I nodded as the man fell silent again. I guessed he had settled down next to the fire again. "Where am I?" I asked.

"Isn't it obvious? You're in a valley." He snapped, the sharpness of his voice making me jump.

"Sorry...I didn't know that..." I said sheepishly. "Kinda hard to know where you are when you're blind."

Then man fell silent again, but I couldn't tell if he was embarassed or sorry or what. For a time, the only sound was the crackling of the fire and the occasional howling of a distant coyote or wolf. I heard this man occasionally stick some wood into the fire. Then he finally said, "So how the hell did you wind up out here anyway?"

"I kinda got on the wrong bus. I guess it was leaving the city instead of going into it." I replied sheepishly, feeling my cheeks flush. "So uh...person...um...do you have a name? Or do I just call you the Disembodied Voice? My name's Lee."

No answer came for a long time. But finally the voice replied with only one word. "Piccolo."

"Hm...Piccolo. Like the musical instrument." I commented, laying back and smiling.

"Whatever." The person called Piccolo grumbled. My guess is that he had quite an attitude problem. 

I became aware of another rather urgent need that my body had. OK make that two. So I turned over and started trying to get up. My feet scraped the ground as I managed to get into a standing position. Some of the leaves that were stuck all over my arms fell off. A twinge of pain in my ankle made me grimace as I shifted my weight to my good leg.

"What are you doing? You shouldn't be putting weight on that ankle." Piccolo said, his voice muffled because his back was probably to me.

"I have to pee." I complained as I tried to take a step. That was a big mistake, and I knew it the instant I felt pain shoot up my bad leg, pain so bad that I almost fell over. I also shouted several words that I probably shouldn't have as I bent down and put a hand on the splint.

All of a sudden Piccolo came over to me while I was still bent over. Without a word he picked me up like I was a feather and hefted me over his big shoulder. Man, he was strong!

"Yikes!" My hand grazed his muscular chest briefly before I grabbed onto his arm, which had slightly rough skin and patches of ridged flesh in some places. I felt a little embarassed when my stomach rumbled while it was practically next to his ear.

He carried me around to what I guessed was a pile of rocks that I could lean against without getting myself soaked in my own pee(which would have been really disgusting.). So anyway, I did my business and used a soggy tissue from my pocket to wipe myself and then pulled my shorts back up.

"OK, I'm done." I said. 

Piccolo took his time coming to get me again, but at least he didn't swing me over his shoulder like he did last time. Instead he just let me lean on him and hauled me back to the campfire. Aside from the odd rough and ridged skin on his arms and the muscular chest, I also added the fact that he was pretty tall to my mental list of his features. No way to tell how tall, of course(I'm short so anyone taller then me is considered tall in my opinion).

He sat me down and kept his fingers wrapped firmly around my wrist. "Here." A moment later an apple was shoved into my hand. His hand moved away again.

"Oh...thanks." I said and bit into the food. I didn't hear him eating at all, so I asked. "Aren't you hungry?"

"No." Was all Piccolo said.

"You don't talk much do you?"

"No."

"Is 'no' all you can say?" I added jokingly.

His reply? An annoyed sounding, "No."

Anyway, I finished the apple and tossed the core aside so that whatever hungry bugs or whatever were running around could have something to eat. By now, I was getting a bit sleepy. I was also cold, and the cloth or whatever that was wrapped around me when I woke up was still a little wet. So I managed to crawl a little closer to the fire, stopping when I could hear the crackling and feel the warmth.

"You'll burn your face off if you get any closer." I heard Piccolo remark from my left.

"I'm blind, not stupid." I scoffed and managed to get my butt on the ground without hurting my bad ankle. I also tried to drag the cloth with me, but once it pulled taut, it wouldn't budge. "Is this thing stuck under a rock or something?"

I felt Piccolo reach over behind me and drag the rest of the blanket over like it was nothing. Something else scraped along the ground. Something heavy. And the next thing I knew I had a handful of the cloth again. I wrapped it around myself and then settled down. Don't ask me why I did this, but I scooted over a few more inches and put my head down on Piccolo's knee. He only huffed, but didn't move away.

"Hmm...warm..." I mumbled to myself as I started to fall asleep while trying to picture what this mysterious man called Piccolo looked like. Of course, I can't imagine in color - I've been blind since birth - but I can imagine outlines and shapes.

So I had a pretty good mental image of a man with a strong, powerful build, a _great_ chest, odd pointed fingernails and some odd patches of skin on his arms and shoulders. But where his face was...I only saw a shadow. And then I finally fell asleep.

I could hear birds squawking in the distance. Some rodent or another scrambled along the rocks near me. The air was dry and cold, and there was a slight breeze blowing. Apparently, Piccolo didn't move all night. I became aware of his knee still being under my head, and I also had the feeling he was probably looking down at me. 

Just as I was beginning to wonder if he had fallen asleep while sitting up, I heard his voice say, "Oh, you're finally awake." 

"Yeah, I guess." I yawned. I thought my ankle hurt bad the night before. But this morning, I was in total agony. I could hardly move.

Piccolo just kind of grasped my shoulders and laid me down. I heard that odd whoosh and then silence. He was gone again. While he was gone, I felt my bad ankle with one hand and my good ankle with the other. Ouch, the bad ankle was swollen alright.

There was another soft whoosh as Piccolo returned in his mysterious way. I heard him clinking something around briefly, and then I had a metal cup with something that smelled like aloe-vera and Vicks placed into my hand.

"Drink that. It'll get rid of the swelling and stop the pain."

What did I have to lose? I sipped the stuff. It didn't taste very good. In fact it tasted like Robitussin with vinegar in it. So I gulped it as fast as I could and grimaced, feeling it burn like liquor on the way down. "Ugh! Tastes awful."

Piccolo snickered. "Well be glad you're mouth tastes bad instead of your ankle hurting. It's bad enough hearing you bitch about the pain."

"You can be such a jerk." I muttered.

"Thanks." He remarked, acting like a smart-ass. "Well, if you ever want to get home again I guess I'll have to carry you to the city." He sighed as if annoyed, and I felt the cloth I was wrapped in the night before suddenly get yanked off of me. Then he leaned down, grabbed me under my armpits and heaved me to my feet. I grabbed onto his shoulders to steady myself and encountered the same cloth I was wrapped in. Apparently Piccolo had on some sort of cloak with huge, heavy shoulder pads.

"OK...now what?" I asked myself aloud.

Piccolo just slipped one arm behind my legs and lifted me up, once again, like I was a feather. "Just hang on and don't freak out OK?"

"Um...OK..." I found his neck and wrapped my arms around it as much as I could without choking him. Piccolo didn't seem to complain.

I felt a slight breeze and a weird sensation like I was in an elevator with the ceiling torn off. My forehead wrinkled as I tried to make sense of what was happening. Before I could think anymore, I started to feel a stronger breeze hitting me from the side, as well as a sensation of moving; too smooth for him to be running.

"What's going on?" I asked. 

"We're flying." Piccolo answered, his voice right in my ear because I had my face over his shoulder. I found that I really liked the sound of his voice. Just something about it was kind of calming, even though he often spoke coldly.

I gulped. "F-F-FLYING!?!"

He snorted. "Better then walking. Well, there's a city not too far ahead. Lotsa cop cars." Piccolo started to fly lower, then set down. The way the sound of the sirens was muffled made me guess he'd put me down near a pile of rocks. 

I heard a rustle of cloth and realized he was about to leave, probably forever. And there was something I needed from him yet, and something I needed to give him.

"Piccolo, wait." I said, and he paused.

"Yeah?"

I reached my hand towards him, up towards his face. His hand reached out and caught my hand, holding it firmly but not painfully.

"Please...can I?" I asked, shyly.

Piccolo's silence stretched for a few moments, but finally his hand moved to my wrist. I instinctively brought my other hand up as well, and felt him grasp that wrist too. He guided my hands upwards, and then my palms touched the cool, soft skin of his face. 

I felt his long pointed chin and hollow, high cheekbones. My fingers felt his lips, which were softer then his face and curved so perfectly. I could also feel his thin, pointed nose and the moist, warm breath that came from it. My hands continued onwards and I encountered his large pointed ears. Then I felt cloth, probably a sort of hat, but he removed it and I felt the smoothness of his bald head. He had a faint depression in his forehead, something only the hand could detect, I'm sure. I felt something sticking out of his forehead, two long thin appendages. I brought my hands back around and felt the protruding areas where his eyebrows should have been, and my thumbs moved over his large eyelids. 

Piccolo wasn't human. And yet, to me, he had such a beautiful face. 

"You're not human?" I asked.

"I'm a Namek." Was all he said. "I'm an alien."

I kept my hands on his face, not wanting to let go. There were so many emotions running through me. My heart was pounding in my chest, and I still can't believe what I did next. I kissed Piccolo. I kissed him on the lips and said in his ear. "Thank you, Man of the Stars."

Piccolo didn't react, or at least not in a way that I would know anyway. I felt his hands release my wrists, and already felt empty.

Then, without a word, he was gone. Only a snap of his cape remained as he floated up and vanished from my life. 

But the memory of his face would always be with me.

The deafening sound of the sirens finally caught up to me, and people rushed over towards me. People were shouting things I couldn't make out. I was still seeing and feeling that face...

"Lee! Lee! You're OK!" My mother hugged me suddenly, having come from somewhere in that mob. I was jarred from my daze.

"Mom!" I cried, feeling so relieved and clinging to her.

"Where's your cane?"

Two days after my adventure, I was effectively on crutches with a cast on my ankle. Of course, nobody believed the story about Piccolo that I told.

Anyhow, one afternoon, I was just lounging around in my back yard, reading a Braille copy of the newspaper when I heard that strange, yet familiar whoosh and the snap of cloth. A hand came from nowhere and grasped my wrist, and seconds later, I felt my cane being placed against my palm. That same hand passed over the top of my head, the fingers combing gently through my hair once.

Warm breath touched my ear and I heard Piccolo's voice say softly, "You're welcome."

Then he was gone, just as silently as he had appeared.

From then on, I always had the feeling that my Man of the Stars was watching me.

***

__

When you're down and troubled   
and you need a helping hand  
And nothing, oh nothing is going right  
  
Close your eyes and think of me   
and soon I will be there  
To brighten up even your darkest nights

__

You just call out my name   
and you know where ever I am  
I'll come running to see you again  
  
Winter, spring, summer or fall,   
all you've got to do is call  
And I'll be there, yes I will  
  
If the sky above you   
should turn dark and full of clouds  
And that old north wind begins to blow  
  
Keep your head together   
and call my name out loud  
Soon I'll be knocking at your door

You just call out my name  
and you know where ever I am  
I'll come running to see you again  
  
Winter, spring, summer or fall,  
all you've got to do is call  
And I'll be there, yes I will

Ain't it good to know that you've got a friend  
People can be so cold  
They'll hurt you and they'll desert you  
They'll take your soul if you let them  
Oh, but don't you let them

You just call out my name  
and you know where ever I am  
I'll come running to see you again  
  
Winter, spring, summer or fall,   
all you've got to do is call  
And I'll be there, yes I will  
  
You've got a friend...****


	2. And She Saw Me

_an2 ****

And She Saw Me

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**__**

"You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love**."** - Henry Drummond

__________________________________________________________________________________________

It's funny how fate can interrupt a quiet afternoon. That is exactly what happened while I was meditating on the edge of a cliff. I was just minding my own business when I noticed this girl with short blond hair stumbling around in the valley. She had a white cane with her, but I didn't know at first why she had it. I could hear her tapping it on the ground every time she took a step. Damn, that noise was annoying. Like a woodpecker in slow motion.

Whoever she was, she was obviously lost. So I followed her. I had nothing else to do anyway.

The girl wandered for a long time, I mean she walked for almost an hour before she finally sat down on a rock somewhere. Well, at least the damn tapping had stopped. I stayed up in the air so she wouldn't see me. And strangely, she never did seem to see me. I landed on a rock about ten feet away from her and watched her sit there. She never turned around. She just sat there and fell asleep.

I sat down. The girl didn't move again until about an hour after the sun went down. She just got up and started off towards the river. I followed her, on the ground this time, but far enough off that she wouldn't hear me, and when she stooped down to take a drink, I stopped and leaned on a large, dried-out old tree with my arms folded. 

"Some people," I muttered to myself.

The girl turned her head and I swear she looked right at me. And yet she didn't react at all. Instead she turned around to grab her white cane again. Her foot slipped on some algae on the rocks and I watched it twist backwards. The girl fell into the raging, rushing water and disappeared.

"Dammit." I said to myself and waited for her to come up. I spotted her about halfway to the waterfall, hanging onto a branch.

I really thought she could get out of there on her own. Nope. With a loud splash and a cracking sound, the branch broke and she disappeared again. The water was moving fast, and there were rocks all over the place. Since I didn't want a lake full of her blood, I decided to amuse myself and get her out of there. I flipped my cape over my shoulder and sprinted to the rushing, swirling water and reached in when I saw her arm poking out. I grabbed her wrist and yanked her out; she didn't weigh much.

Well, to make a long story short, I put a splint on her ankle, using some sticks and her own shoelaces. It turns out that her name was Lee. And I found out something strange. Lee was blind. She couldn't see. I could have kicked myself for not noticing that, but then again, her eyes looked normal…green…but with just a blank sort of stare. There were freckles on her nose and cheeks. She had small, pink lips. I guess she was what people call "cute".

Actually…I'd be lying if I said she wasn't cute. More like she was innocent. And if you tell anybody I told you that I'll kill you.

Lee annoyed the hell out of me a lot of the time. I'd just splinted her leg when she tried to get up to go take a leak. So I threw her over my shoulder and took her behind a rock. I heard her stomach growling. Great. She needed food too.

I gave her some privacy and headed off to the patch of trees under one of the cliffs. Not that I cared…I just didn't want to listen to her complain about being hungry too.

"OK, I'm done." I heard her say. Well she could wait two minutes while I got a few pieces of fruit from the tree. I tossed them down at the campfire and then went and got Lee. I didn't want to hear that noise from her stomach in my ear again. So I let her lean on me. She was short, the top of her head only came up to my chest.

Well anyway, when I got her back to camp, I sat her down and shoved an apple into her hand.

"Oh, thanks." She said and started to eat.

I just sat back, folded my arms and closed my eyes, preparing to meditate again.

"Aren't you hungry?" I heard Lee ask.

So much for meditating. "No." I answered.

"You don't talk much do you?"

"No." I answered again, starting to get a little annoyed.

"Is 'no' all you can say?" She asked, this time as just a joke.

I wasn't in the mood for crap, and almost turned around and told her to shut up and go to sleep already. But I didn't. I could have, really. Instead I just sighed and said, "No."

Lee shut up again so she could finish up the apple. Then she threw the core aside, and I leaned my head to the left so that it wouldn't bean me in the side of my face. I fumed once again, but I still decided not to do anything. Besides, Lee was just a normal girl. No powers. No super strength or anything. I noticed her crawling towards the fire and trying to drag my cape with her.

"You'll burn your face off if you get any closer." I muttered angrily.

Lee managed to get her legs around and put her butt on the ground. "I'm blind not stupid." She said, frowning a little. Her eyes narrowed for a moment and then returned to normal. She was tugging on my cape, but there was no way she would be able to move the weighted shoulderpads attached to it.

Not that I cared, but since her wiggling around was annoying me, I reached over around her and yanked my cape over to her and she grabbed a handful of it. Her fingers brushed mine briefly when I handed her the cape. I watched Lee wrap herself up in my cape. I'd closed my eyes again by that time. Then she scooted over and put her head down on my knee. I heard her scraping around, and didn't know what she was doing until I felt the weight of her head on my knee, and opened my eyes to look down at her.  
"Hmm…warm…" She said.

Well, at least she wasn't moving around. But now if I moved, she'd probably wake up. And I had been annoyed enough for one night. So I just sat there and listened to the fire crackle while I looked up towards the sky. Billions and billions of twinkling dew drops against a blanket of dark blue velvet…that's kind of what the sky looked like that night. I must admit, it was kind of pretty. 

That's when I really started thinking. Lee couldn't see any of that. She couldn't see anything. I closed my eyes. No, even with my eyes closed, I could still see the flickering fire against my closed lids. And the afterimages of the light. I squeezed my eyes shut tighter, until I couldn't see the flickering fire. And still…I had the memories of what things looked like. I knew what blue looked like. I knew what white, red and all the other colors looked like. Lee would never know those things. She would never know the beauty of a sky full of stars, or the colors of a sunset. She would never see a flower. She would never know the beauty of a rainbow. I realized that I never really noticed those kinds of things, before. But if I suddenly stopped seeing them…I would miss them. 

But then again, Lee would never see the war I witnessed in my lifetime. She wouldn't have to watch people she remotely cared about get hurt or die. She wouldn't have to see people fighting. She would never have to see blood flow. It was almost like Lee was a picture of the innocence I never had.

I soon realized that I had to protect this innocence. I don't know why, there was just some feeling in the pit of my stomach that was telling me that I had to. 

I opened my eyes and looked back down at her. Lee was sound asleep now, some of her hair falling into her face. So I reached down and, as carefully as I could, brushed her hair out of her face. Her hair was still a little damp, but also very soft. It smelled a little like vanilla. No, I didn't go sniffing her hair. My nose is better then you think; I could smell it from the one or two feet that seperated my nose from her hair.

Lee's skin was soft as well, and I realized this when I sort of brushed the palm of my hand against her cheek while she slept.

"Don't you ever worry about what you can't see. I'll do all the seeing for you." I said under my breath as I brushed my hand against her face once more.

I sat up all night watching Lee sleep. It's not like I've been without sleep before anyway. 

Lee woke up just after the sun came up. I looked down at her when I felt her move the tiniest bit. Well, finally she was awake. After all, my leg was asleep. Of course, she then started complaining about her ankle hurting. But when I looked at it, I realized that it was pretty swollen.

I got her to lay down and gathered some herbs. I made a sort of green tea that I make for myself when I have a headache. Works like a charm. Maybe the secret is the eucalyptus leaves. Well, anyway, I got her to drink the stuff. So it isn't the best tasting stuff in the world, but of course, she had to complain.

"Ugh! It tastes awful!" Her nose wrinkled and her small lips twisted into a grimace.

Well, it was a little amusing to me. "Well be glad you're mouth tastes bad instead of your ankle hurting. It's bad enough hearing you bitch about the pain." 

"You can be such a jerk." Lee shot back.

Well, well, well, she had one thing right for once. "Thanks." I said with a smirk that turned to a smile and then went away. I yanked my cape right off her and put it back on, feeling a bit annoyed. "Well, if you ever want to get home again I guess I'll have to carry you to the city." I turned around and heaved her up by her armpits, and she grabbed my shoulderpads. Walking was out of the question; it would take too damn long. 

But I got another idea.

"OK…now what?" Asked Lee, her forehead wrinkling. She tilted her head back and she would have been looking right in my face if she could see. I stared at her green eyes for a minute as I threw around the idea of flying. Her eyes were kind of pretty…

Shaking my head, I decided I had nothing to lose. I could catch her if she somehow fell off of me. As careful as I could without hurting her, I picked her up. "Hang on to me and don't freak out, OK?"

"Um…OK." Her hands moved along my shoulderpads until she found my neck. Then her arms wrapped around my neck like a vice. I'll admit, she had quite a good grip.

I took off, pushing my ki through my feet so that it lifted me up. I did it slow so that I wouldn't scare her, and started by going straight up, then started moving forwards. The wind felt good in my face. And I once again found myself looking around at all the things that Lee couldn't see. The green that passed under me. The brown and green patches of crops. The occasional house. Her grip tightened a little, and I became aware that she probably didn't realize yet that she was flying.

"What's going on?" Asked Lee, her voice shaking slightly, answering my mental question for me. Her voice was right in my ear, because her face was over my shoulder. If I turned my head, I'm sure I could touch her cheek with my own. And I did…for a second…I don't know why, but I did.

"We're flying." I answered evenly.

Lee's grip tightened again. "F-F-FLYING!?"

The reaction wasn't what I expected. It was even kind of funny, and with an amused snort I said, "better then walking." I looked ahead and noticed there was a city at the end of the valley. Tons of black and white cars with flashing lights on top were driving around the area. They couldn't see me yet, but they would pretty soon. Well, no sense in freaking out those idiot police men. I slowly started to fly lower, heading towards a rocky outcropping about a mile away from where the cops were. "Well, there's a city not too far ahead. Lotsa cop cars."

I sat Lee down as gently as I could, and the wind caught my cape as I turned around to leave again. I'm not the type that likes goodbyes. But apparently Lee thought differently.

"Piccolo, wait." She said. Her voice was trembling. Trembling the way Gohan's used to when he was near tears.

And for some reason, I had a little hot lump in my throat. Not much, but the closest I probably ever came to actually crying at that point. What had this girl done to me? The moment I asked myself that question, I had the answer. I _cared_. Well, a little anyway.

"Yeah?" I turned back to her.

Lee's hand came up towards my face, and I reached down and caught it. I held her hand tightly, but not too tight. It took me a second to realize that she 'saw' with her hands. I do remember her hands brushing my arms occasionally when I lifted her. She was trying to see me. But could I let her 'see' that I wasn't human? I know she probably thought I was. And…I've never really let a person touch my face before.

__

Stop it, I told myself. _Stop being afraid that she'll 'see' what you've seen just by 'seeing' you._ Um, forget I mentioned that.

Lee had given me something. I don't know what, but she had. I just…had to give her something back. And without further adieu, I grasped her wrist and guided her soft hand to my face. I caught her other hand as it came up and guided it to my face as well. I kept my hands loosely wrapped around her wrists as she felt my face, and I looked in her eyes, even though she couldn't look back. She smiled slightly as her delicate palms brushed my chin and cheeks, her fingertips reaching into the natural lines and hollows there. Lee's fingers passed over my lips, slowly, carefully; her touch was so…gentle, and I realized that I was even enjoying it. A little. Her fingers moved on, up against my nose. I felt her palms move back towards my ears, so I took my turban off, and her hands passed over the back of my head, sliding across to the front again. Her fingertips brushed carefully against my forehead, then wrapped around my antennae and slid down the entire length of them. I saw her eyebrows raise in a curious way, but instead of pulling away, her hands returned to my face once again. I closed my eyes as her hands passed over my brow ridges, her thumbs softly brushing over my eyelids.

For a moment or two, Lee didn't say anything, and her hands stayed on my cheeks, her thumbs still over my eyes. Then she asked, "You're not human?"

"I'm a Namek." I said back tearsely, and then to be more specific, I added, "I'm an alien." _I'm also a monster. Not that I care. But that has to be what you 'see'…_

Lee's thumbs moved off of my eyes, and I opened them. One of her thumbs passed over my lips once again, briefly, and her cheeks flushed slightly. I think she was on the edge of crying. I was just beginning to think about moving her hands away so that I could leave when she did something I seriously did not expect her to do.

Lee leaned her face close to mine and kissed me. It was done so quickly that was caught off guard. I didn't know how to react. Her face stayed close to mine as she brought her lips close to my ear and whispered, "thank you, Man of the Stars."

I didn't say anything to reply; the little lump in my throat had just gotten a lot bigger. This girl, this blind girl who couldn't see the sun rise or set, who couldn't see the star-speckled sky at midnight or a rose in bloom, had seen further into me then anyone else I ever knew. 

Slowly, I moved her hands away from my face and gently released my grip on her wrists. Not because I didn't want them there. I just didn't want her to feel the single tear that was escaping down my cheek. I don't even know why it happened…it just did. I stepped back and watched her for a moment. 

__

Innocence. My inner voice said to me. _She is innocence._

Just before the squad cars rounded the corner, I took off and flew up to the top of a cliff. I was out of sight there, and could still see Lee as an excited woman from the mob of people came running out to embrace her. Her mother, obviously.

Don't ask me why, I just did what I did on impulse. I followed the car that had Lee in it to where I guess she lived. Lee lived in a huge house with a yard full of grass and flowers. There were balconies on one side, overlooking the various flowers. I even saw a fountain with a sculpture of a mermaid sitting on a rock.  
All of it was nice to look at, and Lee couldn't see any of it.

I also realized that if I didn't get out of there pretty soon, somebody would notice me standing there in mid air with my arms folded. I'm not hard to miss.

This may sound a bit weird, but I actually noticed that Lee wasn't there. Her annoying complaining and occasional senseless human babble was replaced with the silence and the occasional cry of an animal. I became aware of the faint scent of vanilla on the corner of my cape. The spot where Lee's head was when she was asleep two days before. Since nobody was looking, or even around to look, I picked up that corner of my cape and brought it to my face so I could smell that scent of vanilla.

I closed my eyes and sighed. Something inside of me was changing. I can't explain what it was or how I knew, but I just felt like something was awakening. I couldn't put my finger on it at the time.

While I was getting myself a drink, I noticed something long and white on the riverbank. It wasn't a stick. It was Lee's cane. The cane she was tapping that annoyed the hell out of me to listen to. I even missed that sound. It wasn't really any of my business…but…I picked it up and turned it over in my hands, just looking at it. There was a red stripe on one end and a black handle on the other. A loop of string swung gently off the black handle, just big enough for me to slip my wrist through.

I had the perfect reason to see Lee again now. I don't know why I wanted to. Kind of something I just had to do. So I took off and headed towards the city, towards that big house with the various flora and the mermaid fountain.

Lee was sitting in a lawn chair with her bad ankle propped up on a towel, her other leg dangling off the side of the chair. There was a pair of crutches on the ground next to the chair, and her ankle had a cast on it that had been wrapped in something blue. I noticed that she had a piece of paper in her lap that had a lot of raised dots on it, and she was passing her fingers over it. Of course, I had no idea what the purpose of this was.

I got tired of stalling and slowly set down about five feet away from where Lee was sitting. I watched her head turn, and her short yellow-blond hair fell over her shoulder. She knew someone was there, but I don't know if she knew it was me or not.

Quietly, I crossed the distance between Lee and I. Reaching out, I carefully grasped her wrist and placed her cane into her hand. Her face grew curious. Without her knowing it, I knelt down and brought my face very close to hers, and I moved my hand from her wrist to her head. I gently stroked my fingers through her hair, just once. The moment I touched her hair, I realized what had awakened inside of me earlier. It was like a crack in a shell around me that had been made a long time ago, and someone had come in and started trying to pry it open again. Something in my heart was opening.

My lips were right next to her ear when I said what I intended to say the last time I had seen her. "You're welcome." They weren't the only words I had to say to her, but I couldn't say the other sentence that was burning in my throat. Instead, I got up and moved away from her, lifting off from the ground and hovering about twenty feet up. I folded my arms and watched Lee bring her cane closer to her body as if she were protecting it. She was smiling.

I felt the wind brush against my face as it played around with my cape. I was also aware that it was getting dark out, and turned my head towards where the sun was going down. The western sky was a brilliant gold, with the orange-red sun sitting right in the middle of it. The edges of the gold had faint traces of pinks and reds, and the few clouds that were passing by were a deep royal purple. 

I watched it all; I watched it all for Lee.

***

__

Whatever you do, I'll do it too   
show me everything and tell me how,   
You know me something and yet nothing to me   
I can see there is too much to learn,   
it's all so close and yet so far,   
I see myself as people see me   
I just know there's something bigger out there. 

  
I want to know, can you show me?   
I want to know about the strangers like me.   
Tell me more, please show me,   
something is familiar about the strangers like me. 

Every gesture, every move that she makes,   
makes me feel like never before   
Why do I have this growing need to be beside her?   
There are some emotions that I never knew,   
some for the world far beyond this place,   
beyond the trees and above the clouds,   
I see before me a new horizon. 

  
I want to know, can you show me?   
I want to know about the strangers like me.   
Tell me more, please show me,   
something is familiar about the strangers like me. 

Come with me now to see my world,   
Where there's beauty beyond your dreams,   
Can you feel the things I feel right now with you?   
Take my hand there's a world I need to know. 

  
I want to know, can you show me?   
I want to know about the strangers like me.   
Tell me more, please show me,   
something is familiar about the strangers like me. 


	3. Angel's Wings

Author's note: This story changes POV's between Piccolo and Lee. I will make it clear when the POV is changing by putting the person's name between some ~'s. (For example: ~Piccolo~) Also, let me note that at the end of all my previous stories; I'm not writing poems. Those are song lyrics ;) So…here's my next story :) Have fun!

Angel's Wings

**~Lee~**

The smooth, cool clay felt good under my hands. I used my good foot to push the pedal that worked the turntable when I needed it to turn. My other foot was still in a cast, but now it was a walking cast. I'm glad too; crutches suck. At the moment though, my attention wasn't on anything but the clay. My sculpture was almost done. Yeah, that's right. I was making a sculpture of Piccolo's face and head. If I could see I'd have probably painted a picture. But ah, painting is too common these days.

Piccolo…I could say a lot about him. He's arrogant. He's mean. He's a really big jerk. I don't think he smiles much. But deep inside, he's lonely. So he acts all mean to keep others from noticing. Well, it didn't work on me. I know he can be nice. We haven't spoken since the day he gave me back my cane, but I have a feeling that he's around and watching me. Don't ask. It's just a feeling.

I wiped the excess clay off my hands and fingers, then slowly put the sculpture in the special oven to be baked so that it would be permanent. I set the timer for about half an hour and then settled down with my latest issue of a Braille version of Teen magazine and started to read. The short walk from the 'office' that I used to do my sculpting and my room was short(the rooms were next door to each other), but it still tired me. Dragging that stupid cast is like wearing a cement shoe!

Heavy footsteps clomped up the stairs to my room. "Hey Punkin!"

I jerked my head up. Only one person had a voice like that. "Dad!" I cried, holding out my arms to him. I was instantly hugged and lifted off the ground slightly. My mother and father are divorced. I hardly ever get to see my father anymore, so when he shows up, it's a big deal. I do love my father most of the time.

Sometimes…sometimes when he gets really angry, he hits me. And my mother. Usually when he's angry and drunk. That's why my parents are divorced.

"You're huge! How's my big girl?"

I wrinkled my nose and gave him my 'impy' face. "I'm fine. I'm not a little girl anymore though, I'm eighteen, remember?"

He socked my shoulder lightly and his baritone laugh filled my ears the way rose petals rain down at a wedding. I loved to hear his laugh. It's so funny. Amidst his laugh, I heard the timer from the oven beep and limped into the room where my finished sculpture was waiting. The little conveyor belt hummed as the oven opened and allowed my sculpture to be scooted out. I could smell the hot clay, and feel the heat of my finished work before I got too close. In a few minutes, I'd be able to touch it.

"What'd you make?" Asked my dad.

"It's just a sculpture of a friend." I answered casually, but I was blushing a little. But as far as my dad knew, I was flushed by the heat of the oven next to me.

"Imaginary friend?" My dad's voice took on that you-must-be-joking tone.

"Piccolo isn't imaginary." I replied, frowning slightly. Then I sighed as I closed the oven doors.

"Um, alright." Dad commented as he turned to the door. I could hear his shoes scrape the ground as he turned and left my room. "Behave. I'm going out."

It was really late. I don't know what time, exactly, but it was after midnight. I heard my father coming home, his feet dragging. Oh no, he was drunk. And my mother knew it too. She was really angry.

"David! Can't you come by here one fricken time without being drunk the night you show up!?" My mother shouted at him in her piercing voice. I heard her throw down the T.V. remote, and my father's shuffling footsteps. Mother started screaming at him again, saying words I didn't even know she knew.

"You ain't my boss, Amy." Father mumbled. I heard a glass bottle shatter as the door slammed. Right away, I started to become extremely frightened. I bunched up the sheets with my fist.

"I am when you're that messed up!" Mother yelled.

I pulled my blankets over my head and covered my ears to shut out the yelling, but I couldn't. I could still hear my father cussing and my mother screaming at him. Then I heard a sound like skin on skin…the way it sounds when someone slaps someone else. Tears formed in my eyes and trickled down my nose, soaking into my pillow. My heart seemed to stop and speed up, squeezing in on itself. There were heavy footsteps coming up the stairs, and I knew that my dad would be after me next. As if to confirm my fears, I felt my blanket being yanked off of my as my dad grabbed the back of my night gown.

"Dad! DAD STOP!" I screamed.

I heard my mother come running up the stairs, still screaming. Then I felt a stinging sensation on my cheek, followed by the rush of heat, as my dad hit me once. Then he hit me again. Again and again, each slap stinging worse then the one before. I kept screaming and trying to get free without hurting him.

"David STOP IT! YOU BASTARD!" My dad's grip was jerked around as my mother probably had tried to push him away from me.

I didn't understand what my dad said. He was too drunk to talk straight anymore. So I didn't understand why he started screaming. That is, until I heard the glass doors that led from my room to the small balcony outside suddenly explode inwards. My father was so frightened that he dropped me, but right after that I heard a heavy impact like a body running into another body. As if whoever just flew through the sliding glass doors had flown right into my father and knocked him down. My mother screamed, and I heard her running back downstairs.

I put on my slippers(I could fit one over my cast) and ran outside the best I could, away from the battle as the glass crunched and shifted under my feet. I crouched down on the cold, hard cement of the balcony and started to cry. My father was still yelling, but not as loud. And now he was yelling because he was scared, not angry. My father stopped yelling and started to whimper instead. There was a thump after that where I guess my father got dropped. And all I could do was cry, my hand over my left cheek where I knew there was a dark bruise forming.

And then I had the feeling I was being watched.

****

~Piccolo~

I have seen many violent things in my life. Normally, I don't really care because I'm used to it. But when I saw Lee's father attacking his own daughter…that really pissed me off. The home is supposed to be a safe place; I've never known what it's like to have a real home, but still. I can understand hitting a kid to discipline them, but hitting them for no reason is just wrong. Even I know that.

I had been sitting on the roof of the house across the way from where Lee lived. I could see into her window and see her clearly. I could also hear the yelling and the cursing. The way Lee was cringing told me that something wasn't right. And that's when I saw her own father go in there and start hitting her. I got up and flew across the yard, over the mermaid fountain and right through the sliding glass door to her room. Actually I didn't realize the door was shut, but a little glass is nothing. Lee's father let go of Lee the second he saw me, and I took that opportunity to tackle him, lift him up by his shirt collar and hold him away from Lee. Lee's mother let out a scream and ran out of the room, and I saw Lee go outside. Good, that meant she was out of harm's way.

Her father started screaming like a little baby and kicking his feet. The guy was so out of it that he even wet himself all over the floor and almost on my foot. Don't worry, I moved my foot out of the way. The guy stopped yelling and started to whimper instead, and since this person still seemed to mean something to Lee, I just dropped him on the floor in his own puddle of piss. Then I went to the door and looked down at Lee, who was huddled in a corner of the balcony, crying. For a long time, I just watched her, wondering why in the world anyone would want to hurt her.

I guess she knew somebody was there. Her head lifted and she seemed to be listening, and I saw a huge, dark bruise on her left cheek, just under her eye. Without making any sound, I took a few steps towards her. If she reached out, she would touch me. But she didn't move. Her head went down again, her face disappearing into her arms, which were folded over her drawn up knees.

I reached my hand out towards her, hesitated, then continued on until my palm came to rest against the back of her head. I guess she thought I was her father trying to make up for what he did, because she slapped my hand away and said, "Dad don't touch me."

"Lee, it's me." I said quietly as I put my hand against the back of her head again, and her head lifted.

"Piccolo?" She whispered, more tears streaming down her cheeks. 

Lee didn't wait for me to answer her. She just got onto her knees, wrapped her arms around my waist and buried her face against my stomach. Her whole body shook as she started to sob. For a minute or two, I just stood there with my hand still on the back of her head, just combing my fingers through her hair. I sighed. This human could annoy me at times, but still, I hated seeing her hurt. After glancing around, I pried her arms off from my waist and knelt down. Lee's arms instantly wrapped back around me, only this time it was my neck and not my waist that she had ahold of.

"What did I do to make him do that to me?" I heard Lee ask herself quietly as she cried, her face buried in one of my shoulderpads. I could smell that faint vanilla scent of her hair again.

"You didn't do anything. It's his own damn fault and not yours." I answered her, keeping my anger out of my voice.

"I'm scared. What if he comes after me again?"

"Not on my watch, kid." I said, forcing myself to put my arms around her. I glanced inside the room and noticed that Lee's father had managed to get himself out of there, but his little piss puddle still darkened the fuzzy gray carpet.

By then, Lee had stopped crying, but her face remained buried against my shoulder. I picked her up carefully and carried her back inside, briefly kicking some of the glass out of the way, but I could still hear and feel some crunching under my shoes. Once inside, I put Lee down gently on her bed and had her lay down. I don't really know why I did this, but I carefully pulled her blankets back up over her. Then I turned to leave, throwing my cape over my shoulder.

"Piccolo?" Lee whispered, her face turning towards me.

Now I was getting a little annoyed. But I stopped myself from telling her to shut up and turned back to her. "Yeah?"

"Stay…just till I fall asleep. I'm afraid my dad will come back." Her voice cracked on the last word, almost like she couldn't stand to say it.

Well, I didn't really have anything else to do. "Sure." 

"Thank you." Murmered Lee as she closed her eyes.

I sat down on the edge of her bed and sighed. She was afraid to even sleep in her own bed. That was enough to piss me off even more about her father. There were a zillion things I could do to that S.O.B. that would make him scream like a little girl. But since he was part of Lee's family, and she still loved him(a little anyway), I let the bastard live. My thoughts were interrupted by a hand grasping mine. I felt Lee's fingers exploring my hand, and couldn't help but look down at her and smile a little.

"You have a long lifeline." Lee said quietly as her finger passed over the fold in my palm that curved around where my thumb was.

"Yeah, I guess." I answered her. I hate to admit it, but I kind of liked it when she would touch me.

Her tone grew serious again and she asked, "Did your parents ever hit you?"

I hesitated. See, I never knew my father. I grew up by myself, all alone. All my life, all I ever knew was violence and hate, pain and rage. The only person that I've ever even remotely cared for was Gohan. Lee was a lot like Gohan when I first met and trained him. But unlike Gohan, there was no way that Lee could really change the way she was. She didn't have any powers to train. Anyway, I also began to wonder how I was going to tell her that Nameks don't exactly have mothers.

Taking a deep breath, I said in a flat tone, "I never knew my dad. Grew up on my own."

"What about your mother?"

"I don't have a mother. I don't reproduce like you do. I reproduce asexually. Even then, only a few of us can actually produce offspring." I sighed again. This was a little embarassing. But I knew Lee would understand. "Somebody killed my father, and just before he died he spit up the egg with me in it."

Lee rested the palm of her hand against the palm of mine, as if to compare size. I found myself smiling yet again. Her hand was so delicate compared to mine. And a totally different color. Pale peach against dark emerald green. I could feel her pulse through her fingertips. She turned her face up towards me, her eyes still closed. "You don't have women?"

"No women. No men either. Nameks don't really have a sex. I guess people just call me a 'he' because I look like a guy." I shrugged and gave an amused snort.

"You 'look' OK to me. And yeah, you sound like a guy too." She said, "I see how life can get lonely. No companionship…" Her fingers curled between my fingers so that her hand was interlocked with mine. "…no love." She was almost asleep. "Tell me that you can love…" I heard her swallow hard as a few more tears came from her eyes and soaked into the pillow. I closed my eyes with a sigh.

I held Lee's hand silently while she slowly cried herself to sleep. I wasn't really thinking much. Just watching her. I also became aware that I had been rubbing my thumb over the back of her hand the entire time. All had gone quiet in the house now, and I just hoped that Lee's mother wouldn't come in suddenly and see me sitting on Lee's bed. Heh, these days, people get the wrong idea over the dumbest things. Anyway, when Lee's hand finally relaxed, I slowly slid my hand away from hers and combed my fingers through her hair once.

"Yes, Lee. I can…" I whispered in response to her earlier question, keeping my hand lightly against her head. "I can…" Then I slowly got up, making as little noise as possible.Well, I usually don't make any sound, but right then, I could hear my own heart. I began to wonder if she could too. It seemed so loud.

Just as I turned to the window, I noticed something through the open door on my left. There was something on a brown, round table with a sheet over it. I know it wasn't any of my business…but…I was a little curious. So I crept into the room and towards that dirty gray sheet, reached my hand out and slowly lifted it. The sheet fell away and I saw…myself. Well, my head and neck anyway. It was sculpted in clay that was an ivory white color. And it was perfect. I mean, nothing was out of proportion. No goofy renditions. It was just me. I turned my head and glanced through the door at Lee while she slept as I replaced the sheet.

I tip-toed out of the side room and to the broken sliding glass door. Then I glanced back once more, smiled and left.

****

~Lee~

My mom got me up early the next morning. Of course, Piccolo was gone. But I was thankful to him for being there for me. I kind of feel sorry for him now, the way he's asexual. He can't have a companion and he can't…make love. I guess I can't blame him for being a grump now, can I?

"Lee, how's your face?" My mom asked, and I felt her finger brush against the bruise. I winced as it sent a pinprick of pain through me.

"It's fine, mom. Just use some makeup and cover it." I said. "What time is it?"

"It's eight-thirty."

"OK." I got up and went into the bathroom, did my duty and came out again, then rumaged in my closet and threw on some clothes and brushed my hair. By the time I had gone all through my morning routine of eating breakfast, harassing my cat and having my mom put some makeup over my bruise, it was almost ten in the morning. And I still had to do my Valentine's day shopping. But first, I had to go to the doctor's to get the cast off my ankle and foot. When I got back home from that, I grabbed myself some cash, then my cane and headed out. "Bye mom! I'm gonna go shopping and I'll be back later!"

"Don't get lost this time!" My mom shouted, her voice muffled by the door as I closed it. She had a good reason to be upset. After all, I hadn't been home again for five minutes and already I was out the door again. AND because of what happened the last time I got on the wrong bus. Looking back on that event…I find myself feeling glad it happened. I'm glad I met Piccolo.

"Right." I muttered. "Don't worry about me mom, I have someone to watch out for me." My cane tapped on the sidewalk, the only sound on my small street. Then I turned the corner and headed past the donut shop, getting a good whiff of the baking bread and various chocolate and jelly fillings. I could also smell coffee and cigarette smoke as well as car exhaust and the oil at the gas station. The street was buzzing with pedestrians, cars and bicycles. Bike chains clinked by me as occasional cars swept my hair up around my face.

I finally heard the love songs playing and knew I was right outside the Love Shoppe, a place to get little gifts for people. I went inside, the little bell chiming sweetly as I opened the door. Already, I could smell the various candies, as well as feel the cool air from the ventilation system. It always seems to be cold in shops.

"Can I help you?" Asked the manager from off to the left, his voice kind of raspy sounding. I heard him cough a few times and guessed he was either old or a smoker.

"No, not now, thank you. Just browsing." I replied politely as my cane tapped the turntable shelf for the jewelry. Raising my hand, I located the necklaces, examining them all with my fingertips. Some were rough, some were smooth. Some were thick and some were thin. There were others that were fat and flat. Others were thin and round. Then I found one, just one, that I liked. My fingertips slid along the chain until they found and made out the shape of two wings as I found the little charm. "Mister, how much is this?" I asked, holding up the necklace. A moment later I felt another chain bump my hand. I realized it was a two-pack. Twin necklaces.

"Oh that? Ten dollars." Replied the manager. 

"Thank you." I said quietly as I paid for the necklace. The manager shoved the change into my right hand and the bag into my left hand. Geez, he had fingers that were big like sausages! I pocketed my change and then took hold of my cane again. On my way out, I reached up and touched my face to make sure the makeup was still there. Yup, I could still feel the powdery texture that wasn't at all my own skin. I just hoped it was enough to cover my bruise.

I made my way back to my house, snuck in and tossed the bag. I used a stamper that has my name on it to stamp my name onto the card a friend had bought for me to give to my mom. Then I stamped the envelope, sealed the card in and crept back downstairs. Once there, I left the envelope next to the coffee pot where I knew my mother would find it.

Then I snuck back out of the house again and went to the bus stop. Of course, the bus was fifteen freaking minutes late as always, but finally, I heard it hiss to a stop at the curb. The engine clanked as the door hissed open. I poked my head in and asked, "Is this bus leaving the city?"

"Yes ma'am." Said the bus driver. He had a deep, bass voice, and might even have been cute.

"Good." I made my way up the steps and deposited my change, then sat down and folded my cane in my lap. I could feel tons of people staring at me while the rest chattered away. One guy in the back seat had an annoying boombox going. I just sighed and lived with it until the bus came to the last stop. Then I got off and found myself in the silence that surrounded me the first time I ever entered the valley.

I could also hear Piccolo yelling. And…as strange as it seems…I heard another voice exactly like his. Two Piccolos? It was very hard to pinpoint his location because one second I'd hear his voice on the right, and then I'd hear him above me…it was really weird.

"Hey Piccolo! Where are you?" I finally called.

"Lee? AACK!" Piccolo paused and then I heard him let out a snarl as I guess he got hit. "Stop!" He said to someone else.

"Humph. You got distracted." Said the 'other Piccolo'. Then I heard an odd, disgusting squishing sound, and once again, I could only hear one voice now. I could also hear Piccolo's heavy breathing not too far away, so I followed the sound.

"Sorry if I interrupted anything." I said sheepishly.

Snarling, Piccolo seemed to be taller then before as he spoke, "Next time, wait for the training to pause before yelling at me!"

"OK." I nervously nodded, and I heard a rustle of cloth, which meant Piccolo had just put his cape and turban back on(I discovered that the 'hat' was a turban). There was a moment of awkward silence going on as Piccolo's breathing returned to normal. The wind picked up for a moment and I felt it blowing my hair around, some strands whipping me in the face. I could also hear Piccolo's cape rustling, and smell the dust in the dry air. It was warmer out today, that is, compared to the night I got lost.

"So why did you come all the way out here?" Asked Piccolo, his voice lowering from a snarl to a growl.

"Don't you know what day it is?" I asked, one of my eyebows raising a tiny bit.

"February 14. So what?"

"So…" I reached into my pocket and my fingers closed around the necklaces. I took one out, keeping it balled up in my fist so that Piccolo couldn't see it. "Give me your hand, please." A moment later, I heard Piccolo step closer and then he grasped my wrist, his grip firm and gentle as usual. His hands were always warm. I turned his hand so that the palm was up and pressed the necklace into his palm. "Here's my Valentine to you." I felt his hand slowly pull away from mine.

****

~Piccolo~

I was training in split form when I heard Lee shout at me. The second I took my eyes of my clone, my clone decided to kick me hard in the jaw. The bastard sent me flying, and then rubbed it in by making a snide comment about me not paying attention. That damn human! Oh well, since I had been training all night since I left Lee, I decided it was time for a break; My clone melted back into me and I threw on my turban and cape. I went off on her about how she needed to wait before the training paused before talking to me. She looked a little nervous for a moment. So I calmed myself down a little.

"So why did you come all the way out here?" I asked, feeling rather annoyed.

"Don't you know what day it is?" Lee asked, tilting her head back slightly so that her face was more or less pointed towards mine. I knew the date, but not what it meant.

"February 14. So what?" I asked, rolling my eyes.

"So…" Lee reached into her pocket for something, and her fist emerged with something hidden within her closed fingers. "Give me your hand, please." She asked. Since she asked nice, and I was cooling off now, I reached out and took her wrist carefully. She smiled slightly and turned my hand so that my palm was facing upwards. "Here's my Valentine to you." I felt her release something into my hand, and I pulled my hand away to look at what she just gave me.

I opened my fingers and saw a long gold chain. A necklace. But at the very end of it was a pair of gold wings. They glistened in the sunlight, contrasting with the green of my own hand. On the back of the little pair wings was an engraving that said: _You and the one you love will never be apart as long as you keep these angel's wings close to your heart._ It was sentimental. It was mushy…and yet I liked it. Nobody had ever given me a gift before. I found myself smiling as I closed my fingers around the necklace and saw that Lee had just put one on too. The little gold wings were glistening at her throat. A pair of wings exactly like the ones in my hand.

"Thank you, Lee." I said, my voice really quiet this time. Deep down, I was somewhat touched that she cared so much. Then again, I cared about her too. A lot. No, more then cared. Much more then I've ever cared for anyone else. 

Lee smiled up towards me. "All angels need their wings, Piccolo. And you're my Guardian Angel."

Me? Me, an angel…a Guardian Angel?! I was really, seriously, surprised to hear her call me that. Lee walked over to me and put her arms around my waist and hugged me. This time, it wasn't as hard for me to hug her back, and I even bent my head down and took a whiff of her hair, which smelled like vanilla as always.

"Here, I'll help you put it on." She said, smiling as she slid the necklace out of my hand. She had to reach around my neck to get the clasp together, and it really amazed me that she could do it without sight. The necklace was just the perfect length; the little wings rested right over my heart. Then I noticed that Lee's face was just inches away from mine. So close that I could feel her breath on my lips. It felt warm and moist.

"Lee…" I started, then stopped. This was going to be really hard for me to say, "Lee…I love this…gift." I paused. Her eyes blinked and she smiled slightly. I caught myself looking at her eyes again, searching them. "Why did you go do this?" I asked her. 

Lee brought one hand around to my face, and I felt her fingertips passing over my lips, slowly. It was a caress, not just a touch. Every part of my mind was telling me to get away from this, to avoid it. But my heart…my heart was telling me to stay. I never listened to my heart until then. In that moment, for the first time in my life, my heart won over my mind.

For a long few moments, Lee didn't speak to answer my question. The silence was almost deafening, but then I saw her smile. She then said, "I did it because I love you. I don't care if you can or can't love me back. I just wanted to let you know what you mean to me."

I reached my fingers towards her face, gently passing them over her lips the way she had done to me. Lee's lips were soft, softer then I had thought they could be. For a moment or two, I just couldn't speak or even make a sound. I just kept my fingers gently against her lips. I brought my other hand up and moved the hand that was already on her face aside so that I was holding her face in my hands. All this time, I was wondering how this girl…this angel…had changed me the way she had. Maybe it was the way she needed my help. Maybe it was because she could 'see' into me the way nobody else could. Maybe I was just going soft. I don't know. I don't care. All I knew right then was that I loved her. I _loved _her. I may not have shown it enough, but deep down, that is how I felt. Sighing, I closed my eyes and started to speak and answer the question that she had just asked.

"I _can_…love. I…_do_ love." The words were sticking to my tongue like flies to flypaper. It was frustrating, and I kicked myself mentally. _Spit it out!_ I thought to myself. "Lee, I _can_ love. And I…love…you." I paused and made sure the word 'love' stood out in my statement. I wanted Lee to know that I meant it. "I don't know what you did to my heart…or how…but I'm glad you did it." Slowly, I moved one hand up slightly and combed my fingers through her yellow blond hair.

Lee closed her eyes and smiled, and I found myself smiling too. I knew she knew I was smiling; her fingers were still on my lips. And by then, I was pretty much ignoring my mind's screams to get away. Besides, my heart was hammering in my ears, much easier to hear then my own thoughts. My heart was telling me something else now. And I listened.

I pulled her face closer, tipping her head back slightly. Then I tilted my head slightly to the left and inched my face closer to hers, the distance seeming so short and so long at the same time. My lips were probably a millimeter away from hers when I paused for a split second, knowing that my life would change forever. There was still time to walk away. I could just walk away and…go back to being alone. Back to the rage, the violence and the hatred. Back to wondering where I belonged and if I really had a purpose. Back to the endless wandering and searching.

But now, most of those questions had answers. Where did I belong? _With Lee_. What is my purpose? _To protect her_. Was I alone when she was with me? _No_. Knowing some of those answers brought me peace. A kind of peace that I never felt before. There was no way, no way at all, that I would throw it all away.

I closed small distance between my lips and Lee's. I kissed her gently, and I felt her give a faint gasp of surprise as she kissed me back. We lingered with our lips gently touching as the rest of the world seemed to slow to a stop around us for those long few moments. We were a video tape on pause. We were a sculpture on a mountain. We were in _love._

Lee's arms encircled my neck as our lips moved together in a sort of harmony. I gladly returned her embrace, pulling her closer, holding her as close to my heart as I could. And in my heart is where she would always be. My Lee, the one who brought me the gift of love on an angel's wings.

***

__

No mountain's too high for you to climb  
All you have to do is have some climbing faith, oh yes  
No river's too wide for you to make it across  
All you have to do is believe it when you pray  
And then you will see  
The morning will come   
And every day will be bright as the sun  
All of your fears  
Cast them on me  
I just want you to see  
  
I'll be your cloud up in the sky  
I'll be your shoulder when you cry  
I'll hear your voices when you call me  
I am your Angel  
  
And when all hope is gone, I'm here  
No matter how far you are, I'm near  
It makes no difference who you are  
I am your Angel  
I'm your Angel  
  
I saw your teardrops, and I heard you cry  
All you need is time  
Seek me and you shall find  
You have everything and you're still alone  
It don't have to be this way  
Let me show you a better day  
Oh and then you will see  
The morning will come  
And all of your days will be bright as the sun  
All of your fears  
Just cast them on me   
How can I make you see  
  
I'll be your cloud up in the sky  
I'll be your shoulder when you cry  
I'll hear your voices when you call me  
I am your Angel  
  
And when all hope is gone, I'm here  
No matter how far you are, I'm near  
It makes no difference who you are  
I am your Angel  
I am your Angel  
  
And when it's time to face the storm  
I'll be right by your side  
Grace will keep us safe and warm  
And I know we will survive  
And when it seems as if your end is drawing near  
Don't you dare give up the fight  
Just put your trust beyond the skies  
  
I'll be your cloud up in the sky  
I'll be your shoulder when you cry  
I'll hear your voices when you call me  
I am your Angel  
  
And when all hope is gone, I'm here  
No matter how far you are, I'm near  
It makes no difference who you are  
I am your Angel  
  
I'll be your cloud up in the sky  
I'll be your shoulder when you cry  
I'll hear your voices when you call me  
I am your Angel  
  
And when all hope is gone, I'm here  
No matter how far you are, I'm near  
It makes no difference who you are  
I am your Angel  
  
I'll be your cloud up in the sky  
I'll be your shoulder when you cry  
I'll hear your voices when you call me  
I am your Angel


	4. Closer Then Close

_an4

Author's note: adult language warning as well as lime. You've been warned. Any weird grammar errors are to be blamed on my crappy spell/grammar-check system. :-p

Closer Then Close

****

~Piccolo~

Everything had changed between Lee and I after that day when she gave me the gift. A whole new set of emotions was racing through me. I didn't really understand them, or know what to make of them, but apparently Lee did. Funny how love works.

It had been about a week since that day…and when I woke up before the sun came up, I didn't feel right. I was aching all over. Probably just training too hard the night before. Hey, it happens. So I sat up and walked out to the lake and got myself a drink of water, then started to do a few stretches and warm up exercises. When I started doing those, I became aware of how my weighted shoulderpads seemed to feel so much heavier. As if I couldn't pull enough energy into my own body to work out. Even my head felt like it weighed a ton. Kind of like I had a string with a weight attached to it that was hanging from the inside of my scalp and down into the center of my body. Hell, even my damn eyelids felt heavy. What was wrong with me?

"I just need to wake up." I muttered to myself as I slid into the splits and stretched my legs.

When I couldn't get myself into split form, I got very annoyed with myself and grumbled at the sky when it started to rain. Well it was about damn time it rained a little around here. Perhaps I just need more rest was all. So I laid back and closed my eyes for just a moment. The second I sat up again and saw it was getting dark, I started to cuss out loud. Dammit! I'd slept all day! And I was supposed to be keeping watch over Lee. So slowly, I dragged myself to my feet. A wave of dizziness washed over me and I felt a tickle rising in my throat. Like I had something stuck in it, and it was also sore like I was swallowing sandpaper. Oh well, I get that from time to time. But I never coughed for no reason. That is, until just then.

What the hell was going on?

I ignored that thought and flew off towards the city while the rain continued its relentless beating on my face and body. When I landed on the roof across from Lee's home, I felt…cold. So I folded my arms and sat down, not caring how soaked I got. I could see Lee inside, sitting on the edge of her bed with a pair of headphones on. Her mouth was moving and I could hear her singing faintly. She wasn't half bad.

I could say a million things about Lee. She is cute. Really, I mean it. She can be really damn stubborn and annoying at times, but there's something about her that just makes others want to like her. Perhaps it's the way she handles her lack of sight so well.

The rain had started to come down harder, and a breeze was picking up. Lightning flashed brightly overhead, and the thunder battered my eardrums. And it _hurt_. It was like a shockwave going off inside my head. I also noticed that Lee had heard the thunder and had taken off her earphones. She was standing by the sliding glass door with her ear turned outwards. An idea crossed my mind as I stood up, soaking wet from the rain so that my clothes were sagging and even my cape was clinging to me. There wasn't a car in front of the house. So Lee was home alone. She didn't have anybody that would come and freak out if they saw me there. That meant I could go visit her without having to 'hold back', if you know what I mean; no hiding in the shadows or anything. I came to my senses to realize I was shivering violently, enough so that I could hear my teeth chattering.  
  
_Shake it off, Piccolo._ I told myself as I bent my knees to take off. A wave of massive dizziness swept over me as I lifted off, and when I came to land on Lee's balcony, I literally fell over. That was the last conscious thing that I think I was aware of at that time, just laying there facedown and too exhausted to even move.

****

~Lee~

I love thunderstorms. The sound is so awe-inspiring, the way it's so loud and intimidating, and yet it doesn't hurt you. Kind of like Piccolo. Piccolo…my man…he's my Valentine forever. Even when it isn't Valentine's day. The day he kissed me was so magical. I mean, his lips are so much softer then they probably look to a sighted person. But to feel them on my own lips…it was like a dream.

I'm so glad to know that he is capable of love, at least the emotion. Sure, the act of making love makes you feel closer. But that doesn't matter. Just knowing that I love him and that he loves me is fine. To tell you the truth, Piccolo can be really sweet when he wants to be, which isn't very often, but it happens.

Sometimes I even wonder if he really was sent to me from the stars to be my Guardian Angel. After all, he's not from Earth. He has a gorgeous face. He can be very gentle when he wants to be and…this may sound weird to some people but…I think his voice is _sexy._ Just…I don't know…the way he almost purrs when he talks sometimes, even when he's angry…I love hearing him. And somewhere deep within him there's a soul that's suffered so much. It's like he's this innocent person that's drowning in so much blood that he never really wanted to shed. I know it sounds like I'm talking mush, but it's just how I feel.

My thoughts were interrupted by a thud on my balcony. That didn't sound at all right. Piccolo never made a sound when he arrived. I slid the creaky sliding glass door open and immediately tripped on something living. The object moved and I heard a moan. A hand grasped my ankle, and the hands made walking motions up my leg until finally the person stood up. He almost fell again, but I grabbed his arms and pulled him inside.

"Piccolo!?" I said. Holy cow! His clothes were soaked completely. I reached up and touched his face, and felt more heat then normal. "You're burning up!"

I heard a cough and then a thud as Piccolo probably had removed his cape. I could also hear his raspy breathing and then more coughing. Piccolo was sick, and whatever he had it was really bad. And before I could do anything, I heard him stumble towards my bed.

"Unh…Lee…" He said quietly. I don't know what it was; maybe it was the way his voice sounded so weak, or the fact that he had collapsed, but whatever it was, I started to get extremely frightened for my best friend. Piccolo was an alien, and for all I knew he probably had a totally different immune system. The flu might kill him. Who knows?

"Shh, don't talk. C'mon, let's get you out of these wet clothes." I said quietly as I knelt down next to him and reached for his shirt. The moment my hand grazed the cold, drenched fabric, I felt his hand grasp my wrist. The heat he was giving off was almost too hot to bear. Much higher then a fever that a human can survive.

"What's happening to me?" Piccolo asked, finally allowing me to get his shirt off.

"You're sick. Haven't you ever been sick in your life?" I asked, wrinkling my nose. I always seem to do that without really thinking, usually when I'm curious or annoyed. Well at the moment I was curious. As I waited for Piccolo's answer, I found his feet and tugged his shoes right off the way he had done for me that first time.

Piccolo has the weirdest feet! I could only feel four toes. There was a gap between where his big toe and third toe were. Anyway, I tossed his shoes aside and touched listened to make sure he was still breathing. He was so far. I felt myself start to blush. "Piccolo…I hope you won't be offended or anything, but your pants are soaked too and they have to come off so you can get dry."

I didn't get an answer, but a second later I heard wet cloth slapping against the floor. Then I heard my bed creak and guessed that Piccolo had managed to sit down on my bed. I grabbed my blanket and put it over his shoulders, then put my arms gently around him, holding him. I could feel him gasping, his skin hot but not giving off sweat. Piccolo didn't move for a long time, but I finally got him to lie down. I lied down with him, my face probably not more then a few inches away from his.

"When did you start feeling 'not right'?" I asked him.

"This morning…" Piccolo answered, his voice getting even more far off sounding. This was bad. Very bad. That means he'd been out in the rain all day and that is probably what made him so much worse. I could hear him breathing again, still loud, almost as if he felt like he couldn't get enough air. And he was still generating heat like an oven. Frankly, I was starting to get really scared.

"Piccolo, I'm gonna go get something. I'll be right back, OK?"

"I'm not going anywhere." He replied.

I nodded in the direction of his voice and got up. The stairs creaked as I made my way downstairs, the soft carpet giving way to hard, cool tile under my feet as I entered the kitchen, took three steps and faced to my left. There was a cabinet and I opened it and groped around until I felt the small round container of a gel that smells like eucalyptus. Good old Vicks…my mother always has some in supply. Anyway, I grabbed the Vicks and clomped back up the stairs which I knew so well that I could race up and down them in my sleep. Piccolo's breathing was so strained that I could hear it from down the hall. The sound alone frightened me. My mother has asthma, and she can wheeze pretty bad sometimes. And Piccolo sounded just like that, occasional coughing breaking the steady rhythm. There were tears forming in my eyes. He was in pain. I just knew he was when I took his hand in mine to let him know I had returned.

Thunder still rumbled outside, and I could hear the rain pelting the roof. All those sounds mixed with the ticking of the grandfather clock in the hall and the sound of Piccolo's breathing. An odd symphony of cacophony. I also started to think of how Piccolo could have caught whatever he had when I remembered something. The day after he'd kissed me, I came down with the flu. He must have gotten it and not thought anything of it, and it got worse. Poor Piccolo…

"Piccolo, I'm going to rub something on your chest that will make it easier for you to breathe. It'll feel really cold, but that's what will make you feel better." I told him as I unscrewed the lid and let the scent of the Vicks waft up into the air. Dipping my fingers into the squishy gel, I got a good sized gob out and rubbed it between my hands, then started to rub my palms gently over his chest. I felt him startle slightly at my touch, but then he relaxed again.

I have to admit: Piccolo has a _great_ pecks. I…didn't want to have to take my hands away from him, so I took my time rubbing the Vicks into his skin. I worked my way up to his neck and gently rubbed some against his throat, gingerly passing my fingers over his Adam's apple. That's when I remembered what my mom used to do with the Vicks when I was sick; it always worked too. I got Piccolo to sit up, and I rubbed some onto his back. He was like solid muscle and flesh, smooth in some places, rough and rigid in others, but warm in all.

"Smells almost like that green tea I make." Piccolo finally commented softly as I got him to lie down again. "Feels…good…"

"Yeah, it does." I answered.

We went quiet again, and I think Piccolo slept for a few hours. I slipped into my pajamas while he was asleep. I fell asleep right next to him with my head on the bed. When I woke up, I could barely hear him breathing.

"Piccolo?" I found and took his hand, then shook it. No response. I shook his hand harder, and when that didn't work I tried bodily sitting him up, which was really a struggle. When that didn't get any response, I knew something was seriously wrong. He might have been dying right there, and now I had to choose: Get help, or hope he improved. The way Piccolo was breathing, I don't think he was improving.

So I chose to get help. Grabbing the phone, I quickly dialed 9-1-1.

****

~Piccolo~

The vapors from the blue container in Lee's hand really cleared my nose up. The smell was like the green tea I make; just like eucalyptus.

"Piccolo, I'm going to rub something on your chest that will make it easier for you to breathe. It'll feel really cold, but that's what will make you feel better." Lee said. Her voice sounded like it was coming to me from the other side of a long tunnel or canyon. And then I felt her hands on my skin. She was smearing that salve on my chest, but I didn't mind. It felt really cold, but relieving too. See, normally, I wouldn't tolerate this kind of crap. But this…this was different. Lee's touch was so gentle. I mean, I'm used to having people hit me or kick me or whatever; I'm not used to having a hand rubbing over my skin. At least not the way she was doing it. I just closed my eyes and inhaled the smell of the salve she was rubbing into my skin, using every part of my conscious will to keep myself from pulling her into my arms and just holding her. She had me sit up while she rubbed more of this stuff onto my back. By then, it was sinking into my chest and making that cool sensation spread out under my skin as if it was seeping into my lungs. The backrub seemed to end too soon as she helped me to lie down again.

That's where my memory blanks again. Right after I fell asleep.

I became aware of movement, and I dragged my eyes open to see white lights passing over my head. Faces surrounded me, all of them framed with white coats. Damn, I couldn't think then, or I'd have recognized the humans as doctors. Doctors!?

"He's coming around. What's his name?" Said the human male with dark hair.

"Piccolo." Lee answered from to my left as the rolling movement stopped and I had a white light glaring painfully down at me. Something was stuck to either side of my chest. I could hear a contraption above and behind me beeping. I felt a thin object being stuck into my arm, and something else inserted and removed from my ear. A bag of something with a tube running down into my arm dangled on a hook just above my head. Where the hell was I?

"Temp's at…..you won't believe this….one-hundred-ten." I heard a woman say somewhere.

The dark haired doctor looked at me again, but he was all blurry to my sight at the moment. "Hi, Piccolo. I'm doctor Liu Kentaro. You're pretty sick here and I'm going to get you well again."

I was about to answer and tell them all to get the hell away from me when someone put something thin on my face, stringing it under my nose and over my ears. And I could breathe much better. I caught a glimpse of the silver-haired female that had put whatever she had put on my face. My eyes narrowed and she backed off real quick. 

Another needle was jammed into my arm, and this time it really pissed me off. "What the f*ck do you think you're doing?!"

"Giving you antibiotics." The man answered. It was that Kentaro person again, smirking as he pushed the plunger down and injected the whatever junk into my blood. Great. Just great.

"Doctor…I can't find anywhere to get this catheter in." A nurse said. She sounded pretty embarrassed. 

Oh what? Now they wanted my piss too? Sheesh! OK, a lot of people think that Nameks don't have anything between their legs. In a sense it's true. That's because there only is when I _want _there to be. Whenever I need to take a leak, I just push out a little thin tube where I suppose humans have their so-called 'penis'. Its just a urethra. Nothing more. And just so you know, it's one of the cleanest places in my body so don't get all grossed out. When I need to, I just stick it out, do my business and then suck it in again. No big deal. Heh, anybody that's happened to have seen it have often told me it looks like a smaller version of a human…er...whatever. Those people aren't alive anymore anyway because I didn't let them get away with seeing what they saw. But anyway I don't like people trying to mess with that. Not even a doctor.

"Lady, when I have to piss, I can do it myself." I growled, making her back off. All this crap going on around me was annoying me and giving me one hell of a headache.

"Shhh…take it easy." A hand took hold of mine while another carefully pulled some blankets over me and smoothed them down gently over my chest. 

"Lee?" I turned my head found myself face to face with her. Lee was wearing a bathrobe over what looked like a pink nightgown. Concern and worry was crossing her face, and I saw her nose wrinkle slightly for a moment. "Where the hell am I?" I asked.

"Don't get mad at me OK?" Lee started. "You're in a hospital. I…I couldn't wake you up and I didn't know what else to do." She squeezed my hand and I could see tears in her eyes. "You were barely breathing and I thought you were dying." Her eyes blinked and one of the tears that had been threatening to fall finally came down her cheek. I reached up and, as careful as I could, brushed it away. Part of me was just fuming at her. But the other part of me was somewhat proud of her for making such a tough decision. I guess the rest of me was just embarrassed that all these humans had seen me while I was weak. I don't like that. 

Anyway, my thoughts were distracted by the weight of Lee's head on my chest as she put her head down right over my heart. She was fiddling around with the little necklace she gave me(I never take it off) while listening to my heartbeat. So I reached my hand over and placed it against the side of her face. There was something that had a red light on it taped to my thumb. A wire ran from it to a machine next to the bed I was lying on. "Hey Lee…thanks for saving my butt." I said to her, unsure of what else to say. I tend to not say anything when I don't really feel like offending anybody, so I resolved myself to silence while I combed my fingers through her soft hair, tucking a few of the loose strands behind her ear for her. Lee smiled, leaned up and pressed her lips against my forehead. _Is this what its like to have a mom?_ I wondered silently, still astonished at how she could care for somebody like me so much.

"Anytime." Lee replied to my thanks after she'd touched her lips to my forehead.

She was bringing her lips down towards mine when someone wearing a gray business suit came through the door. "Lee? You had me so worried and - " The woman stopped. She had blonde hair just like Lee's, but it was cut very short, her eyes were blue instead of green and she lacked the freckles. This must have been Lee's mother, and at the moment she was looking at me in a what looked like shock and perhaps horror. I couldn't be sure since she covered her mouth with her hand, which had manicured nails that were painted bright red. "Oh my God…you're the person that broke the sliding door…" She whispered.

Lee's head turned towards the shocked woman in the doorway. "Mom!" She cried. "Mom, don't be afraid. This is Piccolo. Remember? He's the one that found me out in the valley and splinted my ankle for me." I felt her hands grasp mine again.

"H-h-hello." The shocked woman in the doorway said. I guess she was shocked to find out that I wasn't a figment of her daughter's imagination. I guess I would have been too if I was her. But since I'm not, I guess I'll never know. "I…my name is Amy Jefferson."

"Hi." I said. Well what else could I say? This lady was already scared as hell of me.

"Lee, can I talk to you for a minute?" Amy asked. Lee nodded and put my hand down gently like it would break if she dropped it. She flashed me a small grin and then walked to her mother. Amy pulled Lee to the other side of the room and whispered to her, thinking that I couldn't hear her. She had no idea how sensitive my ears are. I can hear whispers from up to fifty feet away if it's quiet enough. "Lee! What is he?!"

"He's a Namek, mom." Lee whispered back. "Remember that sculpture I made? It's him."

"He's green…" Amy muttered under her breath. Lee didn't answer that because obviously she had no idea what green was. To her it was a word and nothing more. I just pretended to be asleep while they talked about me. Amy's comments didn't bother me at all until she said, "He could hurt you."

"Mom!" Lee hissed, sounding angry, "Piccolo would never hurt me. And I would never hurt _him_." She came back over to the bed. Her voice lowered to a whisper once again as I felt her hand come to rest on mine, her fingers tracing a path gently across my palm. "He's my friend."

"Lee," Amy whispered as she stepped closer to the bed, "Darling, if you could see you would think differently. He looks…I don't know…evil." I almost blew my cover because the urge to burst out laughing at that comment swept over me so fast. I managed to disguise it as a cough. However, Lee surprised the hell out of me once again with her next comment.

"Is that all you see, mother? An alien? Is that _all? _Why is it that everyone I know seems to base everything on appearances and what they see on the surface? Then they come after me all shocked when I say something different to them? Look at his face." She whispered, and I felt her gentle hand come to rest against my cheek. "To me…this is beauty and perfection. What he looks like to you means nothing to me."

Me a beautiful thing?! THAT was new. I heard Amy sigh. _Lady, if I wanted to hurt Lee I would have done it the instant I saw her._ I said silently. _I'll never hurt her. Ever._ Amy didn't say anything for a long time. "Lee, why are you being like this?"

Lee's voice lowered as if she were speaking a soft little secret that she'd had for a long time. "Because, mom…I love him." She paused and her hand slid off of my face and took hold of mine again. "You may go by what you _can_ see. But ever heard the phrase 'See no evil, hear no evil, touch no evil'? Well I can't see evil. But what I can 'see' is how I feel. And not even you can change that." Soft lips touched the side of my face and then Lee's hand withdrew from mine, one finger gently brushing against my lower lip and then moving away. 

I heard Amy let out another sigh and then she said, "OK…" with a flat tone of voice. I heard her rattle a bag around and then she said, "Here, I brought some clothes. Get dressed in the bathroom. I also found these. I guess they're his. There was a cape in there but it was too heavy for me, so I guess he'll have to get it himself when he's well again." I felt something being flopped onto the bed. Definitely my gi.

At that moment a nurse must have come in. She stuck that thing in my ear and took it out again after it beeped. It finally occurred to me that it was a sort of thermometer. "Temp's down to 99.9 degrees. I guess he responded well to the antibiotics. That young lady that had him brought in was very brave, handling the situation on her own like that."  
Lee giggled in the bathroom. "It was no sweat, actually. Panic only makes things worse." I heard the door close and chose that moment to 'wake up'. The red-haired nurse looked at me.

"Welcome back to the land of the living."

I smirked a little. "Yeah. Thanks."

"Hi Piccolo! How do you feel?" Lee asked, smiling.

"Better." I answered her, glancing over at Amy. Amy smiled slightly at me and then stood up and politely left the room. 

The nurse took the needles out of my arm and peeled the tape off my thumb, along with the little red light. The wire dangled for a moment, but she coiled it up and set it down on top of the machine it was attached to. Then she reached to my face and removed the plastic thing that had been strung there. I later found out it had been oxygen or something like that. "You…" said the nurse as she listened to my chest with a stethescope real quick, "…have been discharged. You can go now. You're fever's gone and your chest is clearing up nicely. Apparently your body responded rather fast to the antibiotics when they were given." She patted my shoulder. "Quite a recovery. You had double pneumonia pretty bad there. Now, when you do get outta here, you take it _easy_ for a few days OK? You're well enough to leave but not at one-hundred percent."

"Yeah, fine. Whatever." I muttered while staring at an odd wall poster that described parts of a woman's body. Very strange how humans reproduce. It takes two of them to make one person. Down under the picture of the female parts was one of male parts and more lables and crap. Next to that was a diagram of how the sex act was performed and how a human egg cell is fertalized by sperm and all that stuff. Until then, I seriously did not know how humans 'did it'.

Very interesting concept. Two people becoming one for a short period of time. _Two_ become _one._ I finally understood it. Apparently this 'making love' thing was describing this closeness. I guess I can say now that it's not as sick as I thought it was.

"You can stay at my place to rest." I heard Lee say, snapping me out of my thoughts. I sat up and was starting to get my gi back on. As the nurse had said, I still wasn't at a hundred percent. A small wave of dizziness swept over me as I stood, but it went away.

"Thanks, Lee." I answered her as I pulled my shoes on. "So I'll meet you there." Before anybody could protest, I got up and walked out of the room. The hospital was a maze, but I managed to find my way out. A lot of people stared at me, but hey, I kind of stand out. So I just ignored them as I took off and flew to Lee's house.

****

~Lee~

My mom had arrived with some clothes for me to change into, and I quickly proceeded.

Piccolo was awake when I went back out, dressed in a pair of jeans and a flannel shirt(one that mom failed to tell me the color of). There was good news too: He was being discharged. I heard his clothes rustling as he put them on again without a word. 

Then he took off, and was waiting at the house when my mom and I got there. Well, at first I didn't know he was there because he was waiting on the balcony outside the sliding glass door in my bedroom. My mom wasn't too happy about it. But where else could Piccolo stay?

Piccolo had apparently either gone to sleep again or was meditating, so I left him alone, turned on the water in the bathtub and climbed in to relax under the nice, warm water. In there, I could think in peace with a washcloth over my face. Don't ask why I like to do that, I just do. I was thinking about everything that had happened in the past few days. How close I came to losing Piccolo and how sick he'd been. 

Footsteps approached from outside and then the bathroom door clicked and creaked open. The light switch clicked as it was flipped 

"Oh, I didn't know you were in here." Purred the voice I love hearing so much. I heard his feet scrape the tile floor as he turned to leave. "I'll just use another bathroom."

"Hey Piccolo, it's OK." I said to him and smiled, really not minding him being there. In fact, I wanted him to stay. "You don't have to go running off." I dipped my head under the water to get my wet hair out of my face, the world momentarily drowned into a gurgling noise as my ears were submerged and then surfaced again. I heard Piccolo close the door again and then the sound of the toilet seat being put up.

The sound of the usual tinkling that happens when a person takes a pee filtered through the air as Piccolo casually asked, "How did you manage to handle what happened to me so well? I mean…as far as I know, you were a lot calmer then I expected you to be."

I shrugged and smirked with half of my mouth in his general direction. "I guess you underestimate me. Seriously, I just know that panicking will just make the situation worse then it already is. Better to fall apart when it's over then in the middle."

Piccolo snorted as he put the toilet seat down again and sat down on it(he NEVER flushes the toilet. It's annoying but funny.) "I guess. I just keep a cool head period." I heard him fiddling with a toothbrush and then drop it back onto the edge of the sink.

I reached over and flushed the toilet while he was still sitting on it. "I always thought you were a hothead myself." I sniffed and giggled some more, then I smelled something. "Piccolo…you really _really_ need a bath." P.U. I love Piccolo dearly, but I don't love smelling B.O..

"Now?"

The question hit me like a lightning bolt. The thought of being so close to him while I was completely exposed was probably one of the most erotic thoughts that had ever come to my mind at that point. I mean, I _really_ wanted him to say yes. But he never answered me. Instead, I heard him pulling off his gi and shoes. Then I heard soft plops as he put his feet in the water. I scooted forwards and he sat down, sliding his legs out as far as they could go. His rigid skin brushed against mine as his legs came to rest on either side of my own. I felt more of those odd, rough patches on his thighs and calfs as well as his lower legs as they brushed my skin. Now, I could guess his height by the way he was laying in the bathtub. If Piccolo could lay down in the bathtub and have his head and chest out of the water and the bathtub was about four and a half feet long, then that put him about about six feet tall. Pretty tall compared to me. I'm five foot three inches tall. I was also aware that there was absolutely nothing that I could really feel between his legs. Not that I went feeling down there. After all, his…pardon the term…crotch…was right up against my rear end. Piccolo went about washing himself off, apparently familiar with soap. Or he used something similar to it out in the valley. Who knows? Anyway, he just washed himself off and then settled down again in the water with a soft sigh. _Oh Piccolo…you're so close and yet still so far…_

"Hey, Piccolo? Would you mind washing my back off for me?" I asked as I picked the soap up and got some lather onto my hands so that I could wash my feet and toes. I didn't expect him to do it. Part of me cringed the moment I asked the question, and I feared he would become angry at me for whatever reason.

"Fine." His hand came around and gently took the soap from my fingers. Water sloshed as he sat up a little more, and then I felt his smooth, warm hands against my back. I felt his breath in my ear as he whispered, "Just tell me if you don't like it and I'll stop." As he spoke, Piccolo slid his slick hands over my back and spread out the soap. I just smiled while he did that because he was so gentle; his gentle side was showing consciously and he wasn't trying to hide it from me.

Piccolo put the soap down on the rack beside the tub and dipped his hands in the water to rinse them off. Then he lightly splashed my back to rinse it off and picked up the soap again. He rubbed it between his hands and put it down yet again. I was confused as to what he was doing, figured he was washing some part of himself again, until his hands returned to my back, sliding up around my shoulders and neck. 

Smiling slightly, I put my head back and allowed him to wash the front of my throat as I allowed my cheek to come to rest against his. I could hear him breathing softly in that silent, methodical way, and timed my own breaths to come when his did. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Like the waves crashing on the shore, our breathing seemed to match pace with the gentle disturbances in the water we were in.

My mind wandered into blissful thoughts as I wondered if he had become as lost in his own thoughts as I had. I felt Piccolo's hands moving over my shoulders again, then back down and around my middle. I waited for him to stop so that I could tell him it was alright for his hands to go wherever he wanted to place them. He must have read my mind in advance, because his hands, still slick with the soap, slid right over my chest, around and between, over and across my breasts. I don't think he knew he was arousing me, but maybe he did. Maybe he did.

The water splashed slightly as he dipped his hands under the water and began to rinse the soap off my skin. The water droplets that ran off his fingertips and onto my skin felt like a thousand little tiny kisses cascading down my body. I loved every moment of it. I felt one of his hands come up and his fingertips brushed my lips softly, his other hand sliding down between my legs. Piccolo's gentle touch sent a ripple of pleasure through my body, and this time I couldn't stifle the moan that passed between my lips as his fingers probed me gently, softly and curiously.

I turned my head until my lips found his, or his found mine. We apparently turned our heads at the same time. When Piccolo kissed me this time, it was with passion. Like his fingers, his tongue gently probed inside my mouth, and I was literally drowning in the sensations he was sending into me. Without breaking our passionate kiss, I moved his hand away and turned so that I was facing him, lying down on top of him. Skin on skin, warmth against warmth, body against body. I felt Piccolo's hand return to where it had been before, but this time there was something else too.

Some…part of him…seemed to slide out from a hidden place between his legs and into me, causing a brief pain that made me wince. It kept sliding into me until it finally ran out of room to slide, or it had reached maximum length. And his fingers continued their motion while our tongues mingled and glided together. 

The intense moment of pleasure had just passed and I was panting for breath as my body slowly relaxed. Piccolo's chest heaved below me, speckled with bits of water, sweat and saliva from my fervent kissing across its broad expanse. When I could move again, I turned my head and found his lips again, kissing him tenderly. "I love you…my Man of the Stars." 

He brushed his cheek against mine and rumbled wordlessly. Then I felt his lips pull into a smile, probably because I was smiling with him.

I reached over and pulled the plug in the drain and allowed the water to gurgle and swirl as it drained from the tub. As it drained away, all the worries about the past I had in my head seemed to go down the drain too. Piccolo slowly slipped that strange appendage out of me and put his arms around me as he lifted me up out of the tub. He carried me down the hall to my room and we both collapsed on my bed and laughed for a moment because my sheets were now very, very, very wet. Oh well. We wouldn't get cold.

Oh, I could stay in his arms forever. Longer then forever.

Exactly two days after Piccolo and I did what we did in the bathroom, I made a small sculpture of Piccolo and I joined at the waist like we had been and entered it into the annual art contest. It was very abstract. And it won.

__

First Prize: Lee Jefferson, for the sculpture titled 'Closer Then Close' Said the braille tag attached to the blue ribbon. When I told Piccolo, he just chuckled and told me that he knew I'd win.

With Piccolo, anything is possible.

______________________________________________________________________________________

__

I could stay awake just to hear you breathing   
Watch you smile while you are sleeping   
While you're far away dreaming   
I could spend my life in this sweet surrender   
I could stay lost in this moment forever   
Every moment spent with you is a moment I treasure 

Don't want to close my eyes   
I don't want to fall asleep   
Cause I'd miss you baby   
And I don't want to miss a thing   
Cause even when I dream of you   
The sweetest dream will never do   
I'd still miss you baby   
And I don't want to miss a thing 

Lying close to you feeling your heart beating   
And I'm wondering what you're dreaming   
Wondering if it's me you're seeing   
Then I kiss your eyes   
And thank God we're together   
I just want to stay with you in this moment forever   
Forever and ever 

Don't want to close my eyes   
I don't want to fall asleep   
Cause I'd miss you baby   
And I don't want to miss a thing   
Cause even when I dream of you   
The sweetest dream will never do   
I'd still miss you baby   
And I don't want to miss a thing 

I don't want to miss one smile   
I don't want to miss one kiss   
I just want to be with you   
Right here with you, just like this   
I just want to hold you close   
Feel your heart so close to mine   
And just stay here in this moment   
For all the rest of time 

Don't want to close my eyes   
I don't want to fall asleep   
Cause I'd miss you baby   
And I don't want to miss a thing   
Cause even when I dream of you   
The sweetest dream will never do   
I'd still miss you baby   
And I don't want to miss a thing 

Don't want to close my eyes   
I don't want to fall asleep   
I don't want to miss a thing


	5. I'll Never Let You Go

_an5

I'll Never Let You Go

**~Lee~  
**The nights in the bathtub and out in the desert with Piccolo were a dream come true. Something I won't soon forget. Every time I think of it, I smile. We were closer then we had been before. Much closer. Almost as if he had left a part of himself inside of me. Sometimes I worry about him being out there all alone, though. I know he can take care of himself if he got in a fight or whatever. But I love the guy to death and I still worry about him.

I've known fear a lot of times. Fear of the unknown. But I've never been as scared as I got recently. Nor will I forget the very odd experience I went through. I don't want to ramble, so I'll get straight to the point. I always mind my own business. It's a habit I call being polite. But that kind of changed when I arrived in the valley where Piccolo lives. It was way too windy. There was a deafening roar and I was literally blown over and sandblasted, but I covered my face to protect my eyes from the dirt that was flying around. Just because my eyes don't see doesn't mean that they don't get uncomfortable if something gets in them. There was a faint hissing noise when I stood up again and dusted off. I must have been totally filthy!

"Dammit! What the heck is going on!" I muttered to myself as I groped around the hot, dusty ground for my cane.

Bumping noises came from the direction of the loud noise I'd heard a moment ago. I ignored it though and kept groping for my cane. I felt the smooth handle and reached to pick it up when something suddenly came down and pinned it to the ground, preventing me from lifting it. There was a rustle of cloth and a puff of air as the person that was present exhaled noisily.

"What the? Hey, Piccolo if that's you, that's not funny." I commented, turning my face towards the general direction of the foot.

"Piccolo? No, sorry. You have the wrong guy." Said a voice that was somewhat deep and had a slight rich-boy type accent to it. A hand grabbed the back of my shirt and lifted me into the air. The person chuckled in a manner that made me cringe and I took a swing at him with my left hand the way Piccolo taught me. The person grabbed my arm and shoved it back. "Don't try it, dearie. It won't work."

"Put me down! Hey!" I yelled as this person carried me away. I left my cane there, hoping Piccolo would find it and see I was in trouble. "Let me go! What is up with this!?" I screamed as I tried to kick the person that was carrying me. One of my feet connected with his stomach, but it hurt! He must have either had really hard abs or was wearing armor. If I was a betting woman, and I'm not, I would have guessed it was armor. I even tried to grab the little can of pepper spray that I keep in my pocket, but the stupid thing was stuck!

"Quit squirming! It won't help you, little girl." Said the person that was carrying me. He carried me inside of something, and I knew it because the hot air suddenly turned cool. I had no idea where I was now.

I kicked the man harder, and this time my aim was lucky. It hit him right between the legs and he dropped me real quick. He screamed an obscene word and I held my arms out in front of me as I ran without having a clue where I was running to. I just ran in the direction opposite that I was being taken. Yes! I could feel the warm air blowing in from outside in a strong breeze. There was no sound, no warning for what happened next. I was running full speed towards the warm air when I suddenly collided with something hard. I literally bounced off whatever I hit and landed on my back with a loud, "OOF!" Dazed, I got up again and tried to go around whatever I'd run into. Unfortunately, that was not to be.

Apparently, I had collided with a person, not an object. Because when I moved, the obstruction in my path moved with me. A hand clamped painfully on my shoulder, and whoever it was had strangely soft skin. Then a voice spoke to me. "Well, well, well, what have we here?" This person sounded like a cross between Joan Rivers and Fran Dresher. I don't know who this person was, but they sure sounded like a woman to me.

"Let me go lady!" I tried to get away from the person, but he or she wouldn't let go.

"Aha! HA HA! Zarbon! She thinks I'm a woman! What is she, blind?" Said the person that had ahold of me.

"As a matter of fact, Master Freeza, she is." Said the deeper voice with the accent. That must have been Zarbon.

"Oh is that so?" Said the guy called Freeza. "Well then I might have some fun with this one."

"Let me go you stupid household appliance wanna-be! If Piccolo finds out about this…he'll beat you senseless!" I shouted, squirming in attempt to shrug off Freeza's hand. His grip was like a steel vice, and I couldn't even dig my nails into his skin to make him let go. His skin was as soft as a rose and strong as metal. Very weird. Once again, since it had worked on Zarbon, I kicked my foot out. Something wrapped around my ankle and stopped my foot in mid-kick.

"That was naughty. And did you say Piccolo? As in the Namek? How very interesting." Freeza purred mockingly. "Come along." He literally dragged me back down the corridor and into another, larger room. The floor and walls were metal, I soon realized. I could hear Zarbon following, and even tried to kick at him. All that did was make him laugh at me. "So tell me…" Freeza began as he tossed me on the floor like a bag of trash. "What all do you know about this…Namek."

When Freeza asked me this, I realized that he was out to hurt Piccolo. I had no way to warn Piccolo that he and I were both in danger. Well if that meant I had to die, then I guess I'd have to die. Because I wasn't going to tell him anything else. "I'm not telling you anything you freak."

Piccolo had to know something was wrong. He just had to…

****

~Freeza~  
Humans are funny, weak little things. Kind of like the ants they squash. I had been in orbit observing them for some time when I noticed one heading out into a location where no human belonged. _Now why would a human do that?_ I wondered as I tapped one hand against the side of my hoverpod and cradled a goblet of sweet-tasting red wine in the other. Well that's when the long-range scouter on the ship located a power level that was quite familiar. A Namek. Yes, planet Namek was definitely a party. I ran into one particular Namek that was a worthy opponent. For a little while anyway. And when those idiots made that wish to revive anyone I killed, they made a mistake. After all, my own attack got me. So I wound up back in my ship(I have no clue how it was in one piece) when I woke up. Don't ask me how Zarbon is alive. I have no idea. He was just as baffled as I was when we woke up in my ship. Apparently the stupid dragon's wish stayed in action until the planet blew up. 

Aren't humans just a scream? Mwa ha ha! Back to what I was saying. I had found that Namek's power level again, and noticed the lone human heading his direction. She had almost no power level, so she wasn't going out to fight. This was just perfect. I could kidnap the human and hold her for ransom against the Namek. How else will I get my hands on those lovely Dragon Balls?

"Sir, there's plenty of space to land. If the human sees us, she won't get far." Zarbon stepped into my personal quarters and swung his long green braid over his shoulder. "She'll be easy to kill."

"I don't want her killed, Zarbon. Capture her. She's going out to see that Namek, and I want her so I can use her to get those Dragon Balls. And while you're at it, get my manicurist in here." I replied without turning around as I took a sip of the gloriously sweet wine. Zarbon's obedience is one of many reasons I have him work for me. He doesn't screw around when he gets an order like most of the poor dopes that I know. So I wasn't too surprised when my manicurist appeared in less then a minute and started working on my fingernails. Hey, if I'm going to scare the hell out of people, I might as well do it when I'm looking my best. And just for the record, I am not gay. Neither is Zarbon. Although I do wish Zarbon would act like a man more often. Heh. Oh well, it's not my problem so I'll leave it for now.

I examined my nails when my manicurist had finished and left. Perfect as always. Outside, the view of the blue planet grew larger and larger until the ship touched down. It was so hilarious when that pathetic human fell over and got covered in dust. Served her right for poking around where she didn't belong. But that's when I noticed something very odd. When the girl got up, she didn't look at the ship. She started to feel around on the ground. Humans must be very stupid. 

Zarbon walked right up to her and put his foot down on the white stick she must have been searching for. The human put up a pretty good fight for such a weak little insect, but Zarbon still overpowered her. Showtime. I hopped out of my hoverpod and walked out into the corridor to find Zarbon doubled over. The fool! I had to do everything around there! The human was running, so I simply levitated over her head and blocked the way to outside, standing there with my arms crossed, waiting for her to stop and tremble in fear. The girl didn't stop. She plowed right into me and fell on her ass. To me, it felt like someone was tapping me on the shoulder. The girl got up again and tried to go around me, but I stepped into her path and grabbed her shoulder to keep her from even trying to escape again. "Well, well, well, what have we here?"

"Let me go lady!" The girl shrieked, trying in a pathetic display of squirming to escape my grasp. I took that moment to observe her features. She was only a little taller then I am. Her yellow hair was cut just above her shoulders and she had green eyes. Green like the grass on the planet. She also had blemishes called freckles all over her cheekbones and the bridge of her nose. That's when I noticed something strange about her eyes. Her eyes didn't meet mine at all. In fact they just had a weird looking stare to them. Zarbon then took the time to alert me that this girl was blind. The girl tried to kick me between the legs, but I just used my tail to stop her foot. Zarbon and I spent some time laughing at her and humiliating her, then we dragged her to my quarters. She definitely knew the Namek. Even called him by name. Indeed, this plan was unraveling beautifully.

"Leave us, Zarbon. She's not a threat." I commented as I strolled to my hoverpod and hopped in. "So, girl…"

"My name is Lee." The girl snapped, pressing her back against the wall, as if to be as far away from me as she could be. She was clearly scared, and that only served to amuse me more.

"Well LEE." I spat. "What do you know about the Namek?"

"I'm not telling you anything you freaky Joan Rivers-slash-Fran Dresher wannabe drag queen!" The girl called Lee said back harshly.

What is a drag queen? Irrelevant. It must have been one of those slang insults humans use. On the other hand, I don't like it when people put me down. So I had only one response. In a flash, I had crossed the room and felt glorious satisfaction in watching her head snap back after I backhanded her once across the face. Lee let out a little yelp and tried to scoot away from me. Very entertaining, if you ask me.

Now…how did blind people see things? Ah yes, by touch. Well I wanted her to see the face of the person that was going to rule this universe for all eternity soon. "Pathetic human." I spat as I grabbed her weak hand and ran it over my face. "Take a good look at my face, little girl. Remember it well. It'll be the last thing you'll recall when you die!" I played a little mind-game with her by slipping one of her fingers into my mouth, then kissing it. The horrified expression her face took on was probably the funniest things I have ever seen. But humans aren't as stupid as they look. I let go of her hand and she kept it on my face for a moment until her fingers found my eyes. Her long fingernails jabbed into the corners of my eyes in a manner that was quite uncomfortable. It startled me and I stepped back. Lee got up and tried to escape, but that didn't work. One swing of my tail sent her to the ground. "Stupid move, girl! Try that again and you'll lose both of your hands!" Of course, I realized that my timing to speak had been bad. Lee was unconscious.

****

~Piccolo~  
I can't forget it, and I don't ever want to either. Those nights with Lee were the most incredible things I ever experienced, and I've seen a lot. Mostly violent things though, not what I felt that night. I think I was actually happy. Yes, happy is a good word for it. After everything Lee and I have been through, the things we did…I don't think I'd change any of it. Meeting her was an adventure in itself, but what happened recently was probably the most memorable thing I'll ever keep in my mind. I had fun. I had fun because of Lee. We went horseback riding, flying. Heck…we even made love together. It's pretty hard to explain how we accomplish it, so I'll just leave it to your imagination.

Fear. I've felt fear before. But it's more like the 'holy shit' kind of fear. Not the fear of dying or anything like that. Well, I got an overdose of that. Let me tell you something, it's the most sickening feeling there is. To feel helpless or alone. Where should I start talking? Well listen, and I'll start where I feel like starting.

The day was calm and I was minding my own business, just meditating when I felt a jolt of power. It felt like someone had thrown a rock against the inside of my skull and my ears started to ring. I figured it was just Gokou out training, so I ignored it. Lee was going to be around pretty soon anyway, so I just told myself to chill out. But you know me: I never relax. Heh.

"Focus!" I told myself and lowered my head again. "Focus, you can't meditate when you're tense."

It actually worked. I took a deep breath and allowed myself to relax. Meditation always passes the time quickly if I get lost in it enough. Something wasn't right. I felt that inkling the moment I lifted my head again, knowing over an hour had passed. Lee should have been here by now, and she wasn't. 

I stood up and looked around, seeing if maybe I could spot her walking up. Sheesh, I was worried about her. But hey, I don't really mind it that much. I love her after all, and I guess that's all part of what it's like. I'm not used to this emotion after all. Sometimes it makes me downright sick. But other times, I really like it. I like having my heart pound like a wild animal in my chest when I see her walking up. I like getting a knot of excitement in my stomach when she takes my hand or gives me a hug. And I like the way the rest of the world just stops and disappears when she shows up. I like the tingle I feel when she kisses me. I like seeing her face when I close my eyes. Don't ask me how to explain more. There aren't words to even come close to describing how this emotion called love feels. Sometimes I wonder why I was so against the emotion in the first place. But I'm getting off the point.

Still no sign of Lee. Now I really wasn't liking this. She's NEVER this late. That means that the jolt of power that I felt before wasn't Gokou. If it wasn't Gokou, then who was it? Even today, I still wish I hadn't asked myself that question. As I was flying along, I spotted a ship. Not a little Saiyan space pod, but a huge ship. There were windows all around the edges of this strange round metal beast and many spider-like legs to hold it up. The instant I saw this ship, I flew for cover, because I knew just who this ship belonged to. That little twerp Freeza. And he had Lee.

"Son of a bitch." I muttered, peeking around the cliff and watching that freak Zarbon come out to get Lee's cane. It took every ounce of self control to keep from going over there, smashing his nose through his face and into the back of his skull. But I also knew that I couldn't take Freeza on alone. So I took off as fast as I could and headed for the Son house. Gokou's wife, Chichi, was watering the plants when I landed in the dirt.

"Hey! Don't step on the seedlings! Move!" She cried, and I got off the dirt real fast. Then she came to her senses and gulped. "_Gomen nasai_ Piccolo."

I ignored her little blubbering routine and flipped my cape over my shoulder. "Where's Gokou?"

"He's out in the forest training. Why?" She asked, clutching the hose in her hand like she was going to use it as a whip.

"Trouble." Was the only reply I gave her as I reached my senses out to find Gokou. Unfortunately, he always keeps his power low, so the only way to find him is with my eyes. It's a pain, but right now I knew I was going to need his help.

It didn't take me too long to find him. A tree went crashing down and I watched the treetop fall out of sight. Well, off I went, following the falling tree and landing right as it hit the ground. Gokou was bent over and taking a breather, his wild hair falling into his face a little. Then he straightened again and flashed that usual air-headed grin. "Hiya Piccolo!"

"_Konnichiwa_." I muttered. "Gokou, I don't have time for crap. Freeza's here and…" I paused. Was I really ready to announce my feelings out loud to another person? Thankfully, the name Freeza seemed to have woken Gokou up. He frowned, then scratched his head in confusion.

"Freeza? But I thought I killed him on Namek…"

"Apparently not. That little prick can live anywhere, I guess. But we've got to get rid of him before he does anything to this planet!" I balled my hands into fists. "I know where his ship is."

"Then let's go. I'll just transform and destroy the ship. Easy as pie!"

I felt my heart leap into my throat. "NO!" I quieted my voice, "No. He has a prisoner."

"Who?"

"A human girl." I answered. "Her name's Lee. We have to get her out of there."

Gokou's expression turned serious as his tone of voice became darker and less care-free. He may be an airheaded moron at times, but when he gets serious…he gets _serious_. "Let's go. But first…let's ask one other person join us…"

****

~Lee~  
I groaned as pain in my face warned me that I had come back to consciousness. I felt like I was on a nightmare Ferris wheel, the way I was dizzy(yeah, even blind people get dizzy!). For a few seconds, the world seemed to move slowly around me as if I had shoved my head underwater, but then everything came clearer. I realized immediately that I had been moved, because I'd passed out on my stomach and now I was on my back. A hand was playing in my hair.

"Wakie wakie." Came that ever-so-annoying Freeza's voice. Sometimes I wonder if his underwear are too tight and that's why his voice is so girlish. Who knows?

"_Bakayaro,_" I muttered at him as I shoved his hand away from my head and tacked on for good measure, "You freaking pervert."

Freeza laughed a harsh, nerve-grating laugh. "Oh, now I'm a pervert? I think I should take those as compliments, my dear." What!? I've heard of people with smart mouths, but this guy must have sent his to college or something. He had a comeback for almost everything I said.

"Just shut up." I breathed as I rubbed the back of my head. At that moment, I heard the door hiss open somewhere off to my left. Now, I know it was probably a stupid move, but I had to try and escape. So I got up and dashed for the door, knowing where it was now that I'd heard it more then once. Unfortunately, I slammed right into a body, my hand grabbing onto a rope of some sort. No…too soft for a rope. It was hair that was twined in a loose but neatly-done braid.

"Where do you think you're going, little girl?" Asked Zarbon with his, pardon the term, unbearably nice-sounding voice. Too bad the tone was colder then ice.

"Get a haircut!" I spat back at him. Zarbon just laughed, hefted me under his arm like I was a football and carried me back over to Freeza. He dropped me against the wall once again, threw my cane in my face, then walked over to where Freeza must have been standing and started talking to him in hushed tones that I couldn't make out. I heard the word 'scouter' a couple of times. What the heck is a scouter? My answer seemed to come when I heard Freeza tap something. A strange beep followed by faint clicks punctuated the silence. I wanted to call them fags so bad, but knew that my mouth might get me killed, so I stayed quiet. The little discussion continued for a few minutes, and then Zarbon walked out again. I felt the wind as he passed, then heard the door shut. Apparently, Freeza stood where he was for a long time. I also discovered that he walked very quietly when he wanted to, because the next time he spoke, his voice was right next to me.

"So what do you have to say for yourself, girl?"  
  
"Nothing that concerns YOU." I sneered, crossing my arms the way I've felt Piccolo doing countless times. Figuring I wasn't going anywhere for now, I asked, "So what the hell is a scouter?"

To my surprise, I heard a small click as Freeza adjusted something. Moments later, something was dropped in front of me, so I picked it up and studied it with my fingertips. There was a bit of glass or plastic and a lot of metal that ended in a rounded-off rectangular shape. There were buttons on one side, and the flat side was all a speaker. When I pressed my hand against it, it stuck to it like a suction cup. "You attach it to your ear. Unfortunately, only sighted people can operate them." Freeza snickered at me. "But that's a scouter. It allows me to read power levels and talk to my men." As if to make his point, the scouter came to life in my hands as Zarbon came over the com system and said something. The volume was too low for me to understand it, but I heard him mention something of somebody flying around outside the ship. Freeza snatched the scouter, "Then get rid of him!"

Another mumbled reply.

"Grrr! Zarbon you FOOL!" Freeza's voice turned into a shriek. He has a funny way of pronouncing some words. 'Fool' sounded more like 'foo-elle'. Maybe English isn't his native language after all. Anyway, Freeza growled some more, then I heard retreating footsteps as he left the room. I listened hard for anybody else in the room, but I was totally alone. OK…if Freeza thought I was going to be a good little prisoner…he had something else coming. As soon as I was sure I was alone in the room, I got up and felt my way along the metal walls while tapping my cane in front of me until my fingers encountered the smooth, slightly concave surface of a computer screen of some sort. Moving my hand down, I found smooth metal buttons grouped together in eight's and tens, all in neat rows. Moving my hands inwards more, I found the staggered arrangement of keys that indicated a regular typing keyboard. _Well, here goes nothing_, I thought as I started pressing random keys along the edges. Apparently one of them was the right one, because I felt the slight static charge that always occurs when a computer monitor is turned on. 

"Good afternoon." The too-nice-sounding computer voice said to me. Remind me to like the computer voice on Star Trek the next time I hear it. At least that voice doesn't sound all affectionate and gay. Thinking about the show Star Trek gave me a very crazy idea.

"Now if I could only work this thing…"

"Voice-command not recognized. Please try again." The computer replied. It seems that Freeza's too arrogant to get a better security system.

Thinking about Star Trek one more time, I faced the computer the best I could and said, "Is there a self-destruct mechanism on this craft?"

"Of course." Replied the annoying voice.

__

Well, as Scotty would say…"Then turn it on. Uh….thirty minutes? Silent countdown if possible…" I said, feeling my heart start to race as sweat broke out all over my palms. Freeza could come in any second now and see me. Then he'd probably tear me limb from limb, or worse. I also had to pray that no lights or anything went off somewhere else in the ship.

Surprisingly, the stupid computer actually listened to me; an alien machine was listening to me…just how stupid was this Freeza person to not get a computer that spoke his language and had better encryption? "Thirty minute countdown activated. Thirty minutes. There will be no further warnings. Have a nice day." The screen blipped off, leaving me in silence. I could here people running down the corridor outside the room and muffled yelling. Explosions sounded from somewhere inside the ship, and then I heard Freeza screaming at the top of his lungs in anguish. He was cussing up a storm, let me tell you. For someone so 'dignified', he sure had a bad mouth.

I moved away from the computer console, just in case Freeza came into the room. Feeling my way along the walls, I soon encountered a window. But this window bulged outwards and it was HUGE! I mean…I couldn't even find the top, and it bulged outwards so far that I could probably climb into the glass part and sit there. Then I turned and bumped face-first into something metal and round that didn't quite touch the ground. There were bulges on the sides and front, and the top was open. So I climbed onto the edge of the window and felt the rest of the top. Apparently there was a seat inside of it. Having nothing better to do now but wait, I climbed in and sat down. "OK…this is really boring." I said to myself, thinking of just getting out of there. 

I realized a little too late that I was in some sort of hoverpod, and the hoverpod started to move. Of course, it ran into the closed hatch and stopped moving, leaving me stuck yet again.

Or so I thought. 

There was more yelling outside the hatch, something about an intruder. I climbed out of the chair thing since it wasn't any use to me, and right after I did, the hatch opened. The chair was shoved aside and someone grabbed my arm.

"Hey!" I cried, squirming to escape.

"Shut up! I'm here to get you out of here!" The male voice barked. He talked as if he was the king of the hill or something, and probably wasn't much taller then me or Freeza. Whoever this was ran with me to the middle of the room. "Cover your ears." He ordered me, so I did so. The man growled, and I felt a strange energy building near me as well as hear the man gritting his teeth. The man suddenly screamed, there was a discharge that sent blistering heat throughout the area, and the window I was exploring moments ago exploded! I could imagine all the glass shards flying outwards.

"Hey! Don't stay on this ship! It's going to blow!" I shouted at the man as he started to shove me towards the blown-out window.

"What?!" He stopped, probably looking at me in shock. Then he started to laugh, a rather annoying but unique-sounding laugh. A laugh that nobody could ever hope to imitate. "So not all humans are as pathetic as I thought!"

"Well it was set for thirty minutes….and I did it about ten minutes ago." I said, feeling my watch quickly. The hatch opened and I heard two sets of footsteps run in. Someone started shooting something, and my only hope now was to get out of there. The arrogant man didn't follow, and I started to wonder if he was insane when I heard more explosions. The man was still laughing as I ran for the window. Someone was faster, however, and I felt the back of my shirt being grabbed just as my fingertips brushed the edge of a broken shard of glass. 

****

~Freeza~  
It was impossible! There was no way that the girl could have contacted more of her freakish friends! There were alarms blaring in my ship, lights were going off and the computer console in my quarters had been accessed. How could a human be capable of that!? And to make it even worse, there was a _monkey_ on my ship! A filthy Saiyan freak-show. 

Of course, my men were all being idiotic and I had to kill a few to get them straightened out. "Fan out and dispose of him!" I screamed at my men. There was an explosion at the end of the corridor, but it couldn't do anything to me. I stood there and let the fire pass, then levitated and flew down the corridor as fast as I could. Zarbon was below me, and running the other way. What the hell was he thinking!? "Zarbon you fool!" I added a few colorful metaphors in that sentence, "You're going the wrong way!"

"I'm trying to cut him off, Lord Freeza. It's Vegeta! You know full well that attacking him head on is a mistake!"

"You IDIOT! I killed that little Saiyan Freak Show myself once! Must I do everything!?" Right as I spoke, a massive explosion rocked the side of my ship. It came from the direction of my personal quarters, and that made me get even more pissed off. Flashbacks of Vegeta on my ship on Namek came back to mind. He'd blown the viewport out the last time an explosion like THAT had occurred. "Grrr! Not again!" I quickly changed directions and started flying towards my quarters with Zarbon close behind. 

The instant I got there, I already knew what Vegeta had done, and my guess was confirmed when I opened the door. The human was running for the broken window, and Vegeta stood there, arrogant as ever with that impossible hairstyle, waiting for me. I ignored him and went straight for the human, grabbing her shirt and using her body for a shield. Vegeta growled and started throwing ki blasts at Zarbon, not even saying a hello first. I tore the scouter off my head and opened my eyes wide as I shot my eye-lasers at Vegeta. Vegeta dodged left and fired off a shot at me, but I ducked in time and heard it explode against the back wall. Lee squirmed in my grasp, so I grabbed the back of her neck hard and grinned in delight when she cried out in pain.

"You should know better then to oppose Vegeta!" He snarled, rushing at Zarbon suddenly. I don't think I'll ever forget what I saw happen next. Vegeta ran straight at Zarbon and leapt into the air. Zarbon froze and his pupils seemed to become pinpoints as Vegeta's foot connected with his head with great force. Incredible force and power. 

I just stared in disbelief as Zarbon's head literally came off, the face locked in an expression of utter shock. 

I had to get out of there.

Hefting Lee under my arm, I turned and dashed out of my quarters. Lee swore at me and kicked at my legs, actually succeeding in making me trip once. Then her hand found my face and tore the scouter right off my head. "Stupid human!" I screamed, slapping her as hard as I could. Lee fell back against the wall and rubbed her cheek, which was bleeding because my long nails had sliced her skin.

Sometimes, I wish I knew how humans, as weak and pathetic as they are, can be so smart.

"You're a freak!" Lee shouted back at me, her hand reaching for something behind her. I could hear Vegeta running down the corridor, and moments later, he appeared, smoke billowing around him from my quarters. The lights were flickering in my ship, and explosions started rocking from outside as another figure joined Vegeta.

I gulped slightly. The golden hair! The brilliant cyan eyes! No! No! No! This couldn't be happening again! "No! Stupid Saiyan freak shows!" I screamed, forgetting about Lee.

Vegeta grinned and started to laugh at me as he looked to the other figure. "What took you so long, Kakarotto?"

"I had to teach Freeza's men a lesson." Replied the Super Saiyan. Of course! It was that freak the humans called Gokou! HE had been the one to beat me on Namek! It was definitely payback time.

"Prepare for battle!" I screamed. All of a sudden, right as I was going to jump, that stupid human Lee jumped onto my back and sprayed something in my face. Whatever it was, it stung like a son of a bitch and left my eyes all blurry. I couldn't see straight at all.

Laughing at me, Lee said, "I may be blind, but I'm not helpless without sight like YOU are!"

"Stupid little bitch!" I screamed, raising my power level to transform as my eyes started overflowing with tears from whatever she'd sprayed in them. Rage was boiling inside of me as I turned to face the two Saiyans. Vegeta was laughing, and Gokou just stood there, probably staring at me. I couldn't tell since my eyes were all blurry.

"You two guys! You have to get out of here! The ship is going to self-destruct in about ten minutes!" Lee screamed. WHAT!? HOW HAD SHE!?!?

"WHAT!?" I screamed. That was the last straw! My power level rocketed, shaking everything around me. Vegeta and Gokou started to power up as well, and I watched the brightness of my aura surround me. My eyes burned like Hell itself as I powered up, and the control panel smoked next to me before exploding and showering me with sparks that I hardly even felt. Then my vision cleared and I could see just enough to pick out the white cape and green skin of someone that had just joined the two Saiyans. "Well, well, well…"

"Enough of your games, Freeza. Let Lee go. NOW!" The Namek stated in his deep baritone voice.

"But that would ruin the fun! Give me the Dragon Balls and I might consider it!" I started laughing as I fired off a shot that scattered them. Then I turned and ran down the corridor, grabbed Lee again as I overcame her, and flew back into my quarters on the other side of the ship while my men gave the Saiyans a little party. It would take time for them to get to me. And I needed some time…to transform.

"Let me go you freaked-out drag queen!" Lee shouted at me, nearly tripping over Zarbon's headless corpse, which lay crumpled on the floor where it fell in a puddle of crimson blood.

"Would you just SHUT UP ALREADY!" I shouted back at her, concentrating on my power. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. I couldn't transform. Why!? Why was this happening now!? 

From now on, I'll always curse the time I didn't take a rest after conquering six planets in twelve days. I had no energy left, and hadn't expected Lee to have so many of her damn friends. Especially not that stupid Super Saiyan! 

Lee was still squirming around, and I let go of her just as that annoying Namek flew in through the broken window.

"Lee!" The Namek shouted, and Lee ran towards him.

"Piccolo! Are you OK!?" She cried. 

I scratched my chin in thought as I watched them, the way the Namek looked at the girl was unmistakable. They were involved. Deeply. That caused my thoughts to drift very briefly to the wife I once had long ago. I was madly in love with her back then. She'd been killed during an expedition to the planet Vegeta, and I'll never forget how much pain that left me in. I snapped to the present and saw the Namek called Piccolo guiding Lee to the window, both ignoring me. 

And upon this little turn in events, even as Vegeta and Gokou finally made it to my quarters, I started to laugh.

****

~Piccolo~  
Vegeta's signal had just been given via the big explosion. Gokou took off and headed straight for the opposite side of the ship while I flew to the top. We had to make sure we got every one of his men, because just one of them running around on this planet could be bad news. They may be weaklings to us, but not to normal humans. 

Imagine one of them getting into a shopping mall and going on a killing spree. Not too pretty is it? 

Gokou was already inside and had found Freeza when I arrived. Him and Vegeta had the little twerp cornered, and I didn't like the way he was handling Lee either. I could only catch glimpses of Freeza when the control panel blew off sparks occasionally. Flashes of his pale face with those womanly black lips drawn into a contorted grin that flashed flawless teeth and mocking blood red eyes were all I could see. 

The lighting made him look very eerie, and his image was slightly blurred by smoke crawling around his small form. That changed, of course, when he allowed his aura to flare up. Then I could see his entire lizardlike body, tail, armor and all. I swear that from the neck up, Freeza looks like a woman. 

I wanted to laugh when Lee mentioned something about the self-destruct sequence. Freeza had made a big mistake with her, thinking she was helpless. At rare times, she can be, but when she's in her element, she can be a pain in the ass. And I guess computers are her element. 

When I told Freeza to let go of Lee, he laughed and took off right as the control panel he was next to exploded, barring my path. His men came down hard on Vegeta and Gokou, but I knew they'd be OK. My main concern was Lee.

A purple dinosaur-looking thing with yellow spots on its elongated head jumped at me, but I ducked under him and performed a short uppercut that knocked him aside. He got up and jumped at me again, but I hopped over him and brought my foot down on the back of his neck, snapping it instantly. 

Casting one glance back at the others, I rushed to the top of the ship and outside, circled around to the window that Vegeta had blown out. "Lee!" I cried, flying in and landing, ignoring Freeza for just a moment so I could embrace Lee as she ran towards me.  
  
"Piccolo! Are you OK!?" She asked, her arms locked around my neck. She was trembling, frightened, but at least she was alive and well.

"I'm fine. Let's get you out of here." I said back to her, taking her hand and guiding her towards the window. Vegeta and Gokou were just arriving, and I heard Freeza starting to laugh. Goosebumps prickled up all over the back of my neck, and to this day, I'll always curse myself for not turning around to see what he was up to. 

Gokou was yelling at me right as I was moving to pick Lee up and carry her to the ground. I turned, just in time to feel a surge of power, and just in time to see a red beam of light exit Freeza's extended index finger. 

The second that happened, everything became slow motion. 

The red beam of light passed through the air like a knife through butter. Next thing I knew, Lee's hand fell away from mine as she tumbled out of the window and dropped like a pile of rags to the ground. You know how it looks in those dumb old movies when they use stuffed clothes as props for people falling off buildings? Well that's what Lee looked like when she fell.

"LEE!!!!!" I screamed, ignoring Freeza's insane laughter and the battle that ensued between him, Gokou and Vegeta. Lee didn't move at all, and I practically dove to the ground, tearing off my cape and turban and throwing them aside. "Lee!? LEE!!!" I kept yelling her name as I fell to my knees beside her and clutched her to my chest. The beam had gone right through her head, a burn mark in her forehead marking where it had exited. I felt her breathe in once and exhale. Her eyes rolled back and drifted shut, and I felt my heart leap into my throat. "Lee? LEE!! Oh shit…Lee…Lee, don't leave me…"

Freeza's insane laughter continued as he battled with Gokou and Vegeta. "You two are pathetic losers!" He kept taunting them. But I didn't care right then. All I cared about was the fact that he had killed Lee.

"He'll pay for it, Lee….I promise…I'm going to make him pay…" I whispered against the side of her face, feeling a completely new sensation in my body. Tears formed in my eyes, rolled down my cheeks and pooled against her delicate little pink lips as I moved her away from the ship. I stroked her hair gently for another moment before lying her down as gently as I would the most breakable thing on the planet. 

When I stood up, my fists clenched as veins started popping out all over my body under my skin. I started to tingle as the power within me boiled along with the rage in my blood, and I could only see red when I glared back towards the ship where Freeza was fighting the two Saiyans. I felt my muscles increasing in size as my aura started to appear, electricity buzzing around me as much as it was Gokou, and my heart thundered in my chest. 

The aura I was putting off looked almost like the one Gokou probably did when he went Super Saiyan for the first time. Bright gold with white lightning. 

Freeza was going to pay! He was going to pay NOW! 

The ground trembled from my power as I took off and rocketed back into the ship, knocked both Gokou and Vegeta aside and locked my fist around Freeza's throat, slamming him into the back wall. He let out a guttural noise and kicked me away with ease, but I got right back up and attacked him while Vegeta cussed me out and Gokou tried to make him shut up.

"What's the matter Namek? Did I kill your girlfriend? Oh I'm so sorry!" Freeza mocked me. "Why the tears? I didn't think you cared?"

"Listen to me you little prick!" I growled through clenched teeth as I brought two fingers to my forehead, letting a spark ignite there as blue lightning surrounded me. The blood was throbbing behind my eyes as my heart pounded in my chest, and I ran my tongue over my teeth slowly like a hungry animal, feeling the power of the _Mankankosappo_ building. "You took something from me that you had no right to take…and for that….**_YOU'RE GOING TO PAY!!!_**" I watched the horrified look on Freeza's face as he saw my aura build higher.

But he faked it. "Oh please! You think that little attack is going to hurt me?" He patted his chest. "Go on! Put it right there! Stupid green slug!" I saw what he was doing. His other hand went behind his back and he whipped it forward just as Gokou noticed it and kicked him in the ribs to knock him down. Vegeta stomped on his back once to keep him down. I knew the _Mankankosappo_ was charged, but I was just too pissed to know when to stop. It kept charging, and charging, and charging. 

"Get out of the way NOW!" I screamed at Gokou and Vegeta with a snarl, "He's MINE!!!!!"

"Humph!" Vegeta snorted as he got out of the way. "He's not even worth fighting anymore anyway. Killing him would be no fun." He was pretty beat up, half his face all covered in blood. Gokou's clothes were torn and his lip was bleeding pretty bad, but he didn't look too messed up.

Freeza started to get up and aimed that damned finger of his at me again. At that point, I didn't care anymore. I let everything go. The tears, the rage, everything. It was all flowing as I took my fingers away from my forehead and held them next to my face, gathering last-minute energy. "**_THIS ONE IS FOR LEE YOU SON OF A BITCH!!!_**" I brought my arm back, then pointed my fingers at him, feeling heat travel through my body to my arm. The golden fireball, surrounded by a spiraling red flame, exited my fingertips. It grew before shooting forward, and flickers of blue were swirling in the red swirling flame. The fast-moving _Mankankosappo_ drilled a hole in the air itself as it flew straight at Freeza. It was three times bigger then the usual one I could throw. And Freeza had no hope to dodge it in time, not when he was exhausted from fighting and stuck in his first form. 

The red beam that Freeza fired got lost in my blast, and I watched as the swirling fireball slammed him into the wall. I listened to him scream in agony as it drilled through his body, and I stood over him as he sobbed in pain. Even Vegeta looked shocked at what I had done. Gokou had powered down and came to my side. 

I just stared at Freeza as he twitched, regurgitating blood. He was dying slowly in agony with nothing left between his chest and his waist.

"N-n…oooo….." He barely managed to whisper as I stepped forward and put my foot down on his throat, hardly feeling his hands as they grasped weakly at my foot. I watched his eyes start to glaze over as his black lips gaped in a silent scream of agony, and then I realized something. Lee had rigged the ship. That meant the final blow would be hers after all, and she deserved that last shot. So I took my foot away and backed away from Freeza, ignoring the gurgles he made as he tried to move. In fact, he was crying. There were tears on his pale face. 

For a very brief second, I actually think I felt sorry for him. At least for about half a second. 

He dug his own grave with his evil, and now he was gonna get buried.  
  
"Let's go." I said heavily, suddenly feeling exhausted. "We're done here."

"Piccolo?" Gokou asked as Vegeta went over and spat in Freeza's face before taking off on his own. "Are you OK?" He turned without awaiting my answer to look over at Freeza.

I glared at him. "No. Now move your ass before it's blown up by the ship!" I shoved him out and took off myself. 

He and I hovered a safe distance away from the ship and watched it explode in a red ball of fire, leaving a mushroom cloud in it's wake as the horrendous roar echoed across the valley. 

I just stayed long enough to watch the explosion. Then I floated down to where Lee was lying, not knowing how to feel. It's like I was numb all over, stuck in a nightmare or watching a movie. I mean, I almost expected Lee to just get up when I put my cape and turban on and laid my palm on her forehead. 

What made this whole situation worse was the fact that I hadn't seen or heard from Kami since after we got rid of Garlic and his freaky black water mist crap. And nobody had even found the Dragon Balls for over a year. 

I was trapped. Powerless. Alone. 

Gokou was talking to me, but I ignored him completely as I picked Lee's limp form up and carried her to Kami's lookout. Mr. Popo, the freaky looking jet-black genie, was watering the flowers when I landed with Lee in my arms. "Popo." I said without announcing my presence and with no emotion in my voice as I put Lee down at his feet. "If you ever find the Dragon Balls…"

Popo looked down at Lee with his large, round button-like eyes and his round mouth moved slowly, "I understand, Piccolo."

Without saying anymore, I turned around to find Gokou behind me. "Are you sure you're OK?"

"I said I'm fine dammit! Just leave me alone!" I growled, shoving him aside as I stood on the edge of the Lookout and prepared to leave; prepared to return to the solitude I knew before.

"What's your problem, Piccolo!? Did you love her or something!? You're sure acting like it!" Gokou exploded.

Turning around as the wind played with my cape, I said in a very solemn voice, "I did." 

Admitting it to someone else seemed to just make the fact that Lee was gone even more real. Too real. My eyes misted over and I turned around so that Gokou wouldn't see my tears. I took off from where I was standing and soared down into the valley where I lived. Never in my life have I ever known something could hurt so powerfully. 

I've never cried in my life. Not much really. But I did that night. 

As a storm raged across the desert, I stood on one of the cliffs with my face to the sky, letting the rain pour down onto my body the way the tears were pouring from my eyes. And somewhere amidst the thunder, I could hear myself scream.

When I regained some of my sanity, I formed a shiny object with the hidden talent that all Nameks possess, wiped my face off and stared at what I had made. Would I ever get to use it? 

My grief was so strong that I don't remember how or when I flew to the bottom of the cliff, sat down against a rock and managed to fall asleep. As a matter of fact, I didn't realize I was falling asleep until a jolt of power jerked me back to awareness.

For a moment or two, I thought I was dreaming. A huge mass of fast-moving black clouds were racing to cover the sky overhead, and intense lightning was flashing all around. It couldn't be…yes! Yes, it was!

I could feel my heart skip a beat as I pushed off from the ground, flipped my cape over my shoulder and flew at breakneck speed towards Kami's place. It was quiet when I arrived there, Mr. Popo was even out watering the flowers. Kami was nowhere to be seen, and I couldn't find any sign of Lee anywhere.

What on Earth…?  
  
"Dammit Kami! Where are you!?" I asked, looking around as my heart leaped into my throat a few times.

"Right here." Kami answered from the entrance to his little house as he came outside, his wrinkled face emerging into the daylight. He had his hand curled around his brown wooden rod he always carries around, and I watched a smile spread across his face, "I believe I have someone that wants to see you." With that, Kami grinned and stepped aside to reveal Lee. She was alive again!

"Lee!" I shouted, the rest of the world just ceasing to exist around her when I saw her standing there. 

"Piccolo!" She put her hands out and started towards me. 

I reached her in a few swift sprints, lifted her off the ground and hugged her, the vanilla scent of her hair surrounding us both. I couldn't hold back anything I felt then, even if I tried. And at that point...I didn't want to. She was in my arms again and that was all I cared about at that moment. 

When we reached the ground again, I kissed her. I mean I _really_ kissed her this time, and felt her arms tighten around my neck as she kissed me back. Several minutes seemed to pass before we finally pulled back, a little breathless. I clutched her close as tears spilled out of my eyes. I don't know why I was crying when I was so happy, but at that point, I didn't care. There were tears on Lee's face too as she buried her face against my chest, and I still didn't notice Kami or Popo staring at me as I lowered my head and whispered into Lee's ear, "I'll never let you go…"

"Never…" Lee whispered back, lifting her head and smiling at me as her green eyes glimmered in the light. Their sparkle reminded me of something else, and I quickly reached to my belt to produce something shiny and gold.

I held onto her hand as I removed my turban and lowered down to one knee in front of her. "I'm getting down on one knee," I explained slowly as the shining gold ring caught the light, and Lee inhaled slowly. With gentle care, I held the ring against the ring finger on her left hand and looked up at her, my whole body shaking slightly as my heart pounded like a wild bird in my chest. I didn't know how I was going to ask this question, so I just let the words come out in whatever way they chose. "Lee? Will you stay with me forever? Will you marry me?"

Lee's fixed green eyes filled with tears as she brought her hand up to her mouth, unable to speak. The tears spilled down her cheeks as she nodded her head and finally managed to whisper, "Yes, I will…"

I grinned and slid the ring onto her finger, then stood up as she brought her face closer to mine and kissed me. I heard Popo say, "It's just like the movies," but I ignored him.

"Come, Mr. Popo. Let's leave them alone for awhile…" Kami commented from some far off place, at least to me, he was far off. Then he and Popo left quietly. 

I barely even noticed them, and just realized that tears were still flowing down my face. Lee brushed them away gently, her gentle touch like a piece of Heaven to me. 

I don't care what people think anymore. I love Lee. I love her and she loves me back, and I can hardly even remember my life before I knew her. My heart is open, if that's possible for a Namek, and she's the one I thank for that whenever I wake up in the morning. Even as I stood there with her in my arms, half my cape fluttering around her, I was thanking her.  
  
There was a genuine smile on my face as I lifted her into my arms and started to fly towards the Earth once again, following the blazing orange of the setting sun. The sky was blazing with reds, golds, purples and pinks. As we flew, Lee kissed my cheek and whispered a few simple words into my ear. "I love you…"

I didn't even hesitate when I replied by saying, "I love you too."

I can't live without her, and I'm not afraid to admit it anymore either. Maybe someday when Lee and I are both old farts, we'll look back at this whole thing and laugh. But I know that when I look back, I won't regret any moment I had with Lee. 

And so I flew on, Lee tucked safely in my arms. Nothing was going to come between us ever again. I lost her once. I'm never going to lose her again, because now I know how much she truly means to me.  
  
_Thought it wouldn't matter  
If we didn't stay together  
And if it was over  
Baby, it was for the better  
I was thinking I'd be all right  
'Til I thought it all through  
Now I know that I ain't really living  
If I have to live without you_

I don't wanna live without your love  
I don't wanna face the night alone  
I could never make it through my life  
If I had to make it on my own  
I don't wanna love nobody else  
I don't wanna find somebody new  
I don't wanna live without your love  
I just wanna live my life with you  
With you

Guess I had to go away  
So much I had to go through  
Guess I had to lose you  
To realize how much I love you  
Can we make the fires burn again?  
Burn a little stronger  
'Cause I've been alone, and baby  
I can't be alone any longer

I don't wanna live without your love  
I don't wanna face the night alone  
I could never make it through my life  
If I had to make it on my own  
I don't wanna love nobody else  
I don't wanna find somebody new  
I don't wanna live without your love  
I just wanna live my life with you

If I had to make it on my own  
My life would never be the same  
My love would never be the same  
And I don't wanna live without your love

I don't wanna live without your love  
I don't wanna face the night alone  
I could never make it through my life  
If I had to make it on my own  
I don't wanna love nobody else  
I don't wanna find somebody new  
I don't wanna live without your love  
I just wanna live my life with you

I don't wanna live without your love  
I don't wanna face the night alone  
(I don't wanna live)  
I could never make it through my life  
If I had to make it on my own  
I don't wanna love nobody else  
(Don't wanna love nobody else)  
I don't wanna find somebody new  
I don't wanna live without your love  
I just wanna live my life with you  
(Live my life with you) 


End file.
